The Farmer Who Watched the Floodwaters Rise

In March 2019, the Missouri River swallowed whole towns across Nebraska and Iowa. Farmer Nick Galanakis stood on a bluff outside Hamburg, Iowa, and watched the floodwaters erase everything he recognized. Grain bins crumpled like soda cans. Roads vanished. Fences, barns, property lines — all of it dissolved beneath the current. The boundaries humans had so carefully drawn meant absolutely nothing to the river.

Nick later told a reporter something that stuck with the whole community: "We spent our lives arranging things just so. The river reminded us we were never really in charge."

Psalm 97 paints a picture of the Almighty that should stop us mid-stride. Mountains — the most permanent, immovable things we know — melt like candle wax before Yahweh. The heavens themselves broadcast His righteousness so that every nation sees His glory. Clouds and thick darkness surround His throne, yet righteousness and justice form its very foundation.

We build our kingdoms with such confidence. We stack up achievements, titles, portfolios, and reputations as though they will stand forever. But the Most High is exalted far above every power we construct or worship.

This is not meant to terrify us — it is meant to free us. When we know who truly reigns, we can stop white-knuckling our little arrangements and let the earth be glad.