While in the Holy Land
earlier this year, we had the opportunity to ride in a boat on the
At one point, we read
this account of Jesus and the disciples encountering “a wind storm” on the sea. After reading this account, our guide pointed
out that “wind storms” blow up quickly and without warning on the
But the
Upon reflection, I recognized that this is the way it is in life, isn’t it? Storms have a way of intruding into our lives … blowing up when we least expect them and reminding us of how little control we really have in life. These storms in life come in various ways: “Mom, Dad, I’m pregnant,” and your heart breaks. Your spouse announces, “I’m not in love with you anymore. I’ve found somebody else,” and you’re devastated. The phone rings and the voice says, “There’s been an accident,” and suddenly, you struggle to breathe.
The storms of life … they come in the forms of: miscarriages; divorce; death of a loved one; business failure; a rebellious son or daughter; losing your job; unexpected health problems. It’s amazing, how one day everything is going along fine and then, one little word from the doctor’s lips – “cancer” – can suddenly change everything.
Storms come in various wrappings, but the results are always similar … we get that empty, sick feeling in the pit of our stomachs. It feels like our world is caving in and we grasp for some sense of hope to hang on to.
But, as Christians, we know that we don’t have to face the storms of life alone. We know that there is One who is with us through this journey of life and He has the power to say to the storm, “Be still” and the winds will obey his voice. That’s why I want to make sure that Jesus is on my boat when the storms of life come. How about you? Is he on your boat? I sure hope so.
Because, when we have the Lord of Lords on our boat, we can live with the assurance described in Psalm 46. David was no stranger to the storms of life. And he understood, that one thing we can all be sure of, is that we will all face a few storms in our lives. The question is not “if”, the question is “when.” So today, we’re going to take a look at what our faith has to offer us in the midst of the storms of life and how we can weather such storms.
When a storm comes, such as a hurricane or like the tornadoes that swept across the country a few weeks ago, afterwards, the question is always, “Why? News commentators and meteorologists often try to explain it, but usually they end up saying what we all know, “We really don’t know. This is just part of the reality and uncertainty of life.”
When the storms of life come to us, it is our human nature to also ask: “Why? Why is this happening to me?” And like those experts, who try to explain why hurricanes or tornadoes strike us … there is only one thing we can say with certainty, and that is, that storms are just part of life. As Jesus said, “God makes the sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.” The storms of life come to us all. It is just part of the reality of life.
But there are causes that we need to be aware of. One reality is that some of our storms in life are self-induced. In other words, some of the tragedies and struggles we experience in life are caused by our own choices and mistakes. God has given us all the freedom of choice and sometimes the choices we make lead us to trouble.
I once knew a man who smoked two packs of cigarettes a day for almost
30 years. When he was diagnosed with cancer, he became angry at God, saying, “How
could God do this to me?” I couldn’t
help but imagine God going … hello? I
know of another man, who ignored the pleas from his wife to spend time with her
and attend to her unmet needs. He was
devastated and angry at God when she entered into an affair and filed for
divorce. Now, of course, two wrongs
don’t make a right. But, the truth is,
that many of the hurts and storms we experience in life are self-induced … they‘re
caused by our own choices and mistakes.
And on the flip side of this, some of the storms we face are caused
by the bad choices or
evil actions of others. When we
remember the events of September 11, 2001 when terrorists
hijacked four airplanes, crashing two of them into the
So, we experience storms in
life. But, when the storms of life come, how do we weather them? In our Psalm for today, David says, “God is our
refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not
fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart
of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with
its tumult.”
David is saying, when your world is caving in,
turn to God! Now, that may sound obvious and remedial, but
have you ever noticed that often, when a storm comes instead of turning to God,
many turn away from God. They become
angry at God and blame God for their circumstance. But David is saying, “Don’t blame God or
think that God is your enemy. Turn to
God! For God is our refuge and strength.”
The Hebrew word “refuge” (makhseh) means “a shelter from danger.” David is saying that God is “our shelter” when we find ourselves in a storm and we are safe in God’s shelter.
People outside the Christian faith really don’t understand this claim. But, when you ask a person who has been a believer for many years “When were the times you have felt closest to God?” The answer will almost always be that it was when they were going to through some kind of storm. Because, turning to God in the midst of the storm, they found that God truly is “our refuge and shelter from danger.”
Sadly, many believers who attend church regularly have only a “head knowledge” about God being “our refuge”. We sing hymns about it and we read Bible verses about it. Yet, when we’re caught off guard with a storm that suddenly blows into our lives, the songs and the Bible verses are quickly forgotten and panic sets in. Suddenly, we begin to question God’s care and even God’s very existence.
David’s advice in Psalm 46 is that we should not shake our fist at God
and spend our lives asking “Why?”
Rather, we should turn to God,
trust in God, and seek refuge in Him. In
doing so, we will experience God as “our refuge and strength”. There is no guarantee of what tomorrow holds
for us, but one certainty we can count on, is that God will be our refuge and
our strength, if we turn to Him.
As Christians, we can also weather the storms of life by drawing our strength from a faith that is real. Now, obviously, your faith means something to you or you wouldn’t be here this morning. However, just attending church is not enough when it comes to preparing for the storms of life. Unless we are drawing closer to God on a daily basis … unless our relationship with Jesus Christ is the top priority in our lives, we won’t be able to weather a major storm.
Every time I work with a couple prior to their marriage, I try to instill this truth in them. As they begin their new lives together, I try to help them realize that there will be storms that they will face in the future and they will need the resources of a vital faith in God to survive whatever comes.
So, I encourage us all to daily include the spiritual disciplines that will help us to grow closer to God. These include: Praying together daily. Stay in God’s word daily. Worshipping regularly. Surround yourselves with supportive friends who are also committed to growing in Christ. Make it a priority to do the things that will help you to grow in your relationship with Christ, so that when the storms of life come, you will have the resources of God as your refuge and strength.
Time and time again, I see people trying to face the storms of life without a strong faith and tragically, they don’t know “the peace that passes all understanding”. Such faith begins as we seek now, in the good times, to walk daily with God.
Those who weather the
storms of life also draw strength from friendships that are true. Repeatedly,
the Bible talks about the importance of significant friendships
in our lives. I love the passage in
The truth is, some of the
storms of life are so devastating and painful, that they’re only bearable when
the burden is shared. The only way we
survive such moments, is when we have the love and strength of other people,
encouraging us and holding us up. That’s
one of the greatest benefits of being a part of a loving church family. Over and over again, I hear from those who,
in the midst of a storm say, “I just don’t know how I could have made it
through this, without the support of my church family.” This is part of God’s design for us as the
Body of Christ. As Paul says in
And this happens, when we intentionally cultivate those relationships through meeting regularly with others in small groups who are also committed to growing in their relationship with God and with each other. If you are not presently involved in a small group, a Bible Study group, a Sunday School class, or one of the many other groups we have, I urge you to cultivate “friendships that are true”. Because God never intended for us to face the storms of life alone.
Those who weather the storms of
life well are people who have learned how to turn to God … who have a faith
that’s real … and have friendships that are true. Another thing we see in those who weather the
storms of life well, is a resilient spirit.
Since the devastation in our state caused
by the hurricanes, Katrina and Rita, I have heard that word used a lot to
describe the people who are rebuilding their lives down there. That word: “resilient.” Resilient
means “springing back to an original position; having the power of
recovery.” For us as Christians,
this word should define us, for this is the story of our faith. When all seemed lost and hopeless, God
provided a way in the wilderness. When
When one faces the devastation of a storm … the news of cancer; the loss of a home; or the loss of a loved one; we have a choice of how we are going to respond. We can choose to respond with faith in a God who loves us and will see us through or we can respond with despair. Only one choice leads to a resilient spirit. God alone has the power to restore our broken dreams and our broken lives. God alone has the power to see us through the storms of life … even “the valley of the shadow of death”.
As Christians, we know
that God doesn’t cause the storms and tragedies that come to us. As we talked about, many of the storms occur
because of choices that are made by us or others. But God can redeem our tragedies and bend the
evil things that happen to us to bring about God’s ultimate will for our
lives. And we can actually benefit from
the storms of life. When we’re in the midst of a storm this is hard to see, but
let me share with you some of the ways
we can benefit from the storms of life.
This is what Paul was talking about in
As Henri Nouwen put it, we become “wounded healers.” Through our woundedness in life, with God’s
help and healing, we become more compassionate toward others and can be used as
instruments of God for their healing.
I’ve seen this happen so many times.
As a pastor, I’ve seen a lot of storms occur in people’s lives and I try
my best to do what I can to reach out and be Christ’s presence to those who are
hurting. But I have never experienced
divorce. I have never experienced the
death of a child or a family member who has committed suicide, at least not
personally. At those moments, those who
can best minister to people in those tragedies are those who have weathered
those same storms. They understand like
no one else does and God can use them to show others that there’s hope and
light at the end of the tunnel. So, storms can help us develop
compassion that God can use to help others.
Another way we can benefit from the storms of life, is that “Storms can help us develop deeper relationships.” This
has certainly been true in my own family and it’s also been true for many of us
in this “church family.” There’s a
certain “bonding” and “closeness” that can develop between people when they
experience adversity together. Again,
this is part of God’s design and will for us, that we come alongside of one
another and draw strength from each other.
Another benefit is that “Storms can
help us develop inner strength.” I
read once, about how early missionaries to
Eventually the missionaries learned from the Africans that the best way
to cross a river is to find the heaviest stone they could carry and lift it up
to their shoulders. The extra weight of
the stone would help them keep their footing and prevent them from being swept
off their feet.
Well, likewise, the storms we face in life may be painful, but if
handled in a healthy way, with God’s help, they help us to develop inner
strength. As Paul says in
And finally, another way that we can benefit from the storms we face is
that: “Storms can help us grow spiritually.” Like David,
the Writer of 1 Peter was no stranger to the storms of life. And in 1 Peter 5:10, we find these words, “And
the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you
have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong,
firm and steadfast.”
Those who have weathered storms in life have learned that God is faithful in seeing us through such times. And they have developed a quiet confidence toward future storms. As the years go by, and storms come and go in our lives, a deep and abiding confidence sets in. With conviction we are able to say, “God has never failed me in the past, so now in this present storm – I choose to trust Him.”
And when we trust in God as “our refuge and strength”, with God’s help, experiencing storms in life can help us to develop compassion for others. They can help us develop more meaningful and deeper relationships. They can help us develop an inner strength that can carry us through the difficult times of life. And they can help us to grow spiritually in our trust and relationship with God. This is how God can help us redeem our suffering.
The question is not, “Will times of adversity come into your life?” The question is “How will you respond?” As David says to us in this beloved Psalm, “Let God be your refuge and your source of strength”, for God will help you weather the storms of life.
And as the
disciples learned in the midst of the storm on the