Ever been in a real stem-winder of a storm? Most of us have, and some have been recently. There have been many devastating tornadoes this spring and summer!
Some years ago, a gentleman in our church, an elderly man named Walter Smith, gave me a poem he wrote about a blizzard his family went through when he was a child. He wrote:
The blizzard on the farm in 1912, a boy of six and just the age to delve,
In everything that life would have to hold, to take in stride the new as well as old.
We had no radio to warn us then, to tell us of impending storms and when.
Four rings we heard, a special kind of tone, the warning to us was by country phone.
We then prepare to meet the storm ahead; for that was what the weatherman had said;
We’d gather logs for heat, it’s understood; we knew the fireplace took lots of wood.
And coal was brought to fill the kitchen bin; it might take days to bring a lot more in.
The stock is in the barn, we close the door; some bales of straw for warmth are on the floor.
The basement was our store for food and meat; of hams and bacon, there’s enuf to eat.
Around the water pump were bales of straw, and everything is done to help it thaw.
The chicken house, we know is never still; that coal-oil lantern drives away the chill.
The hogs would dig a hole in stacks of hay, when cold they’re sleeping mostly all the day.
By early morning snow was five feet deep, and thirty-five below we had to greet.
My father shoveled snow with weary back and legs, I was just big enough to gather eggs.
We had no plumbing then, I must confess; the first path that we cleared—I’ll let you guess!
All of us face storms through life. Sometimes, they are “natural” upheavals of the wind and of an earth that “groaneth and travaileth in pain” under what Paul called the “bondage of corruption.” (Romans 8: 21,22) Sometimes the storms of life are not from natural calamities but are emotional, mental, and spiritual tempests in our souls. We need to learn of God’s ways in the storms of life:
• 1. God can arrange storms in our lives: “For He commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.” (Ps. 107:25) God prepared a vehement east wind that threatened Jonah and some seasoned sailors’ lives. (Jon.1:4) The Psalmist said “Thou rulest the raging of the seas; when the waves thereof arise, Thou stillest them.” (Ps. 89:9) What God can do in the natural realm, He can do in our day-by-day lives in order to stop us in our tracks if need be.
• 2. God can and sometimes does allow the storms to come into our lives: “They mount up to Heaven, they go down again to the depths; their soul is melted because of trouble.” (Ps. 107:26) God allowed Job to suffer an unthinkable family, personal storm. And, Joseph found himself in a stormy pit and in a prison; Elijah, too, running for his life from Jezebel. Every child of God has been at some time in a place of physical, emotional, spiritual distress. One person said, “I cannot say beneath the pressures of life’s cares today I joy in these; but I can say that I had rather walk this rugged way if Him I please.” Can you? Today?
• 3. God can acknowledge the confusion: “They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits end.” (Ps. 107:27) “Are you standing at Wit’s End Corner, Christian, with a troubled brow? Are you thinking of what’s before you, and all you are bearing now? Are you standing at Wit’s End Corner? If so, you are in the right spot to learn of the wondrous resources of Him, Who faileth not.” (Wit’s End Corner by Antionette Wilson)
• 4. God can alter the circumstances: “Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and He bringeth them out of their distresses.” (Ps. 107:28) “I am here by God’s appointment; In His keeping; Under His training and for His time.” (Andrew Murray)
• 5. God can allocate the calm: “He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.” (Ps.107:29) A grapevine hollered “Murderer” when the gardener came to cut on the vine with his knife. “Ah,” said the gardener, “I don’t mean to kill you. If I did not do this you would be the laughing stock of the garden before the season is over.” Months went by and the gardener came again and under the trellis where great clusters of grapes were hanging the grapevine said, “O thank you, Sir, You could not have done anything so kind as to cut me with that knife.” (copied)
• 6. God can author the conclusion: “Then are they glad because they be quiet; so He bringeth them unto their desired haven.” (Ps. 107:30)
So only trust Him, only trust Him. “One day many years ago, I stepped out onto the plank of faith and crossed over into the Good Ship Hope whose captain is Jesus and whose destination is the City of God. Choppy seas have beat upon that vessel, and threatening clouds have thundered overhead, but time and time again my Savior’s voice has come through the storm, ‘Peace, be still.’ Praise God, I’ve anchored my soul in the Haven of Rest…In Jesus, I’m safe evermore!” (copied)
“But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and He that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior….” (Isa.43:1-3)
YOU and GOD 