My God is an awesome God, and He never gives up on me…
On 7 December 1988, two earthquakes measuring 6.9 and 5.8 on the Richter Scale occurred only minutes apart in Armenia. The tremors from these earthquakes were felt as far away as Georgia, Turkey and Iran. Armenia was devastated by these earthquakes, with nearly half a million buildings destroyed and over 60,000 people killed.
Following these earthquakes, one father ran to his son’s school desperately searching for his son. When he arrived, he found the entire school completely decimated. The buildings were completely flattened. And in seeing this utter devastation, the man immediately started digging in the rubble in about the place where his son’s classroom had been. You see, the man refused to desert his son while there was even a glimmer of hope that he had survived.
The people around him could not understand his stubbornness – they are dead, it is too late, go home – those were the cries that rang in his ears as the man continued to dig. The fire chief, the police, the passers-by all called out to the man to stop his digging – it was hopeless, so they thought… But still the man would not stop. He dug for four hours and then for eight and then twelve and twenty-four and thirty-six and then during the thirty-eighth hour of his mission, the man called out his son’s name, “Armand!”
And Armand replied, “Dad! I told them! I told the other kids not to worry. I told them that if you were alive, you'd save me, and when you saved me, they'd be saved.” That day – over three days after the original earthquakes, that father and the fire brigade and police managed to pull thirteen children from the rubble – pulling hope out of despair…
And I have been reflecting on the determination of that father to save his son, as I reflect on the Fatherhood of God Himself…
“Jesus said to His disciples: ‘I shall no longer speak to you in figures but tell you plainly of the Father. In that day you will ask in My name; and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came from the Father.” (John 16:23b-28).
And in a way, the Holy Trinity is like the father and the son and the fire brigade and police in the story of that earthquake.
The son in the story – Armand – is very important because, in a way, he reminds me of God the Father. You see, while God the Son works for salvation, God the Father BELIEVES in Him and waits with infinite patience for Christ to achieve His Holy Will in saving us as children of God… And this is just like Armand, who waited patiently with the other children (who could be considered like the angels and saints in heaven) for salvation…
And the father in that story reminds me of God the Son – the Son of Man – who came to earth despite the hopelessness of sin and the weakness of human nature so that He could save us as His children. And just as the father in this true story never gave up on finding his son alive, despite all the suffering in digging through the rubble for over three days, so too, does God the Son continue to SUFFER for us – to REDEEM and SAVE us…
And then there is the fire chief and the police. Well, who are they like? In a way, they are like the Holy Spirit – God the Son sends the Holy Spirit to help us – just as the fire brigade and police worked with the father (eventually) to save the child.
And as I reflect on the Holy Trinity through this terrible natural disaster, I cannot help but pause in wonder – for my God is an awesome God, and He never gives up on me…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.