“Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”

Today, as we settled in and tied things down for an impending hurricane to blow through, I took a few minutes to observe hummingbirds swooping in and out of the porch to gather nectar from a feeder.  It struck me that here before me was a stark contrast of God’s creative work.  On one hand, a storm of catastrophic proportions and power is spinning in the ocean a few hundred miles away and on the other hand I was observing one of the smallest birds on earth that exhibits great strength and power as its wings beat roughly anywhere from 12 to 80 times a second just to maintain their ability to hover over flowers and feeders.  I was so grateful for the pleasant interlude amidst the anxiety and unsettled feelings of awaiting the next news update to prepare my mind for what promises to be a long few days of wind and rain.

The text above is a description of the praise in heaven as recorded in Revelation.  The word for power in the Greek is a variant of ‘dunamis’ which translates not simply as power in human or mechanic form but the supernatural power of God.  It is this supernatural power that caused creation.   While communities are in turmoil and preparation to withstand hurricane force winds, catastrophic flooding and days of possibly being without power and the comforts of every day life, I am forced to remember that the same God who created the hummingbird with its powerful beating wings is the same God who can stir up an oceanic storm.  We cannot always understand the reasoning for His creation but I am assured to know that the same God who provides for the little hummingbird can provide for me in the midst of a storm with unknown outcomes.