Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
John 1:29
As the saying goes for March, in like a lion, out like a lamb. Moving to Tennessee was my first experience with tornadoes and the now familiar tornado siren. My first year here, was probably the worst as far as number of times I hauled my children and dog down to our shelter in the basement. I’ll never forget the first time we tested our preparedness and ability to recognize danger looming on the horizon.
Severe weather had been forecast several days in advance. My preschool boys and I were home that afternoon while my husband was still at work. The siren went off as was expected so we traipsed down the stairs to our cozy shelter which I had furnished with pillows, snacks and a computer. As we settled in, we prayed that God would keep us safe in the storm and that we wouldn’t have any tornadoes touch down as I tried to comfort my children.
I was able to track the funnel cloud with our local meteorologist until it reached about a mile away and then I lost my Internet connection. Thankfully, my sister who lives nearby had called to check on us. Unbeknownst to me, she too was tracking the tornado with the weatherman as it continued its path right over our neighborhood.
I’m not sure if her intent was to keep me calm or to make sure we were all okay. However, since I had no connection with the outside world besides her, I was comforted by her calm voice on the other end of the phone. She never mentioned where the circling cloud was but continued to shoot the breeze so to speak until the sirens stopped. She stayed on the phone with me until I was able to go outside and to my surprise see that all was calm, not even a limb down or leaves ruffled – as if nothing had happened. To my relief, the rotating cloud never descended below the tree line.
As unpredictable as spring weather can be, our God is the opposite. The Lion of Judah never changes. He is our defender, protector and provider. In the storms of life which will affect us all, He is Immanuel, God with us. He sent His only son, Jesus, to be the perfect sacrificial lamb to pay the penalty of our sins once for all on the cross at Calvary. As John the Baptist said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.”
Sometimes the storms in life will pass over us, but there will be times we find ourselves in the middle of our own whirlwind in need of comfort, peace and a rock on which to cling. Jesus is that Rock. He is both the Lion of Judah and the Lamb of God. Knowing He has saved us from our sins and is with us in our storms, we can praise Him come what March, April or May.