I love the monsoons for in they come fast and out they go. They are powerful yet at the same time can be very beautiful. Yet, I wouldn’t love them so much if they were damaging my home, my family, or our well-being. Life is like that as well. The storms we go through in life can be damaging.
I look at the Bible and I see great strength in the storms of the life of many of the people the Bible tells us about. They can teach us great things. Just like we don’t like going through the storms of life neither did the people we are told about. Yet, I have found that even in the pains of life…those things we call storms we can find God’s strength and peace to get through them.
What is going on in the storms? What is behind them? Is God there? Yes, of course, He is. The sound of a thunderstorm can be mesmerizing. Flashes of lightning and booms. The speed of the wind as it comes and goes. To some, it might be frightening like if it were a hurricane, tornado, or a tidal-wave where it brings great damage.
The storms that come at night as you lay in bed all snuggled in can give you peace, yet, if it is a destructive storm you don’t want it to come. Our storms in life can teach us or we can allow them to hinder us. We all have storms in our life. Love loss, sickness, grief, loss of job, and the list are endless. People turn on us, lie about us, abuse us, and so on. Life can have storms for a season or feel like they will never end.
Thinking about real storms I know I love to watch them, but then you hear about someone getting hurt, the life displaced, or life lost and you wonder why you can love the storm yet hate what happened to another.
God is so much bigger than any storm we each face in this life. Might not seem like it at the moment you are going through it. We all know the storms of life hurt. Why me God? We cry out and blame God for what is going on. Yet, sometimes we forget that we live in a fallen world and until Jesus returns there will be a storm in our life (probably many storms). Psalm 29 talks about the power and majesty of God. It reminds us that God is bigger than any storm we could face whether it’s a physical thunderstorm or a spiritual storm.
Don’t allow the storms you are going through or any that might come your way to take away your peace in God. God is right there with you. He doesn’t stop all the storms that we go through, but He is walking them with us as we go through them. Our God is so much bigger than the things that we face in our life. God has given me strength at the very moment I thought I could not go on. As you go through the storms what has it taught you? Did you learn anything at all that you can share and help someone else by sharing it? Maybe not right away because of the pain, but when the time comes can you share your story with another who might need to hear it? (abuse, rape, loss of a job, loss of a loved one, etc.) Did you get a better job? Did you find love? Did you get away from the abuser? Did the person who hurt you was there justice? Sometimes we don’t see what is going on in our situation at the time. As for justice know that no one gets away and all will face God in the end. His justice is perfect.
God is my defender, and shield, he jumps in with all wisdom and might. Our God is always on the side of His own. Are you His? Do you give Him everything in your day and take Him with you? Do you ask His advice? Do you listen to it? Do you have a personal relationship with Him or is that relationship only when you need something or only when you go to church?
You might fall many times in your life…but get up and keep going. We, as true Christians, are on the winning team and we can always trust our Father in heaven. Give Him your problems but never forget to praise Him for who He is. Honor Him! Stay the course and know that at some point that storm will end. God bless you!