The Storms of Life
Sunday, January 24th, 2010
“Life is a storm, my young friend. You will bask in the sunlight one moment, be shattered on the rocks the next. What makes you a man is what you do when the storm comes. You must look into the storm and shout as you did in Rome. Do your worst, for I will do mine! Then the fates will know you as we know you: as Albert Mondego, the man!” - Alexandre Dumas
A few weeks back I did a message at The Orchard entitled, Anchored. We grappled with this notion that each of us will engage the storms of life. That each of us, even those in God’s “perfect” will are challenged, tested and tried. In fact, one time Jesus tells his disciples after a intensive time of teaching, to get in a boat and travel to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. While they were in the boat a storm emerged.
What’s interesting about that story is that Jesus told them that his plan for them was to go to the “other side.” I believe I would be safe to say that they were following God’s plan. Yet, a BIG storm emerged.
The story depicts followers of Jesus captivated by the shifting and changing world around them, instead of an UNCHANGING God. A God of grace. A God of hope. A God who can be trusted.
For a majority of us we currently fall into three categories: entering a storm, engaging a storm, or emerging from a storm.
A question for you: How are you engaging the storms of life, today? Are you afraid? Are you allowing the changing world around you to govern your emotions, thoughts and beliefs?
What if Jesus that day was trying to help the disciples to see, after rebuking and calming the storm, that God is not: A myth. He is not a lovely idea. He is not an abstraction. He made everything that is. He stands above raging waters, time, space, and history. He is able to save us from the raging sea. Therefore, we do not have to live in fear Therefore, we do not have to live in defeat. Therefore, we do not have to cower. Therefore, we can dare to face the storms of life with a posture of TRUST! We have a heavenly Father who loves us!
How are YOU trusting God these days?
