BY DAWN REED
When reports of Snowmageddon began swirling in the weather forecasts, we braced ourselves. Crowds raced to the store for milk and bread to endure the storm. Many grabbed extra toilet paper – a leftover panic from COVID. Snow was projected anywhere from 1 inch to 4 feet, followed by up to 2 feet of ice. We had no clue what was coming but we weren’t skeert.
People on social media and in real life mentioned the Blizzard of 1993 again and again. For the life of me, I couldn’t remember it at all. Then I mathed it out: how old we were and where we were living. It came rushing back. Our best friends came with their kids to our house in the hollow. We pooled groceries, hunkered down, went sledding, played games, and made wonderful memories. Best BLIZZARD EVER.
You may live in flatlands with a history of tornadoes or hurricanes may be your biggest fear. In our area, storms often bring flooding. The biggest flood of my lifetime was in 1977. The next floods were in 1984, 2004, and 2007. There was a historical flood in 2022, then again in 2025. Folks always said we couldn’t have tornadoes in the mountains. That proved false in 2012. We are no stranger to calamity. We survive one, clean up after it, and get ready to face the next.
When David stepped out in the Valley of Elah to face Goliath, he did so with complete trust that the LORD would deliver him. He might not have looked like a victor, but he was already full of victories. First Samuel 17 tells the true story.
David was a shepherd. Keeping the sheep safe was a big and sometimes dangerous responsibility. He gave King Saul a quick resume: “When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it, and rescued the sheep…” He went after the lion and bear. David went on, “When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it, and killed it.”
Because of what the LORD had already helped him overcome, David fearlessly stepped up to face this next obstacle: a giant over 9 feet tall. While the Israelite army ran in fear when they heard Goliath’s defiance, one young man didn’t flinch.
This was his reasoning: The LORD who delivered him from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear would deliver him from the hand of this Philistine (verse 37).
We have lion and bear stories, too. Times when the LORD delivered us. When He showed up just in the nick of time. When He provided. He made a way when there was no way. He walked us through the valley or the storm or the crisis. He strengthened when we were weak. He comforted us when we ached. He healed, He loved, He bore our burden.
“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1). So let the snow fly, the rain fall, the wind blow. The LORD who delivered us from the paw of the flood and the paw of the storm will deliver us from the next blizzard, too.