Storm

The last few weeks I felt like the Lord wanted to talk about storms. In a new way. It has been raining a lot recently in Europe, yesterday it was pouring rain in Frankfurt. The whole day darkness, heavy atmosphere, no breeze. In the afternoon you could hear the thundering and see the lightning, but it lasted couple of hours before heavy rain started to pour down. I was just driving back home, parked and waited for few seconds.. Nothing changed. There was no way I could get dry out of this! As soon I realised that, I took my new shoes off, left them in the car, and prepared to get soaked. Water was everywhere! But I could actually enjoy it, it was wild, it was refreshing, somehow I felt more alive. Running few meters to enter the house there was a young man heading the same direction, cursing loud the whole time. I realised, there will be storms in your life, it is inevitable, but the way you go through the storm can be so different! You alone determine the way you respond.

There are many bible verses about Jesus calming the storm, but He did that only when people called to Him in distress. In fear of their lives, like the disciples in the boat (Mt 8, 26). But also many verses saying, that God is our refuge, our safe place. Actually Jesus wonders at our reaction, saying that we have little faith when we are stressed in the storm. He asks us: „Why are you so afraid?” Nahum 1, 7 says: He KNOWS those who take refuge in Him. In Psalm 91, 1-5: He rescues you from every trap and protects you from the fatal plaque. Psalm 27, 6: During danger He will keep me safe in His shelter. Psalm 89, 9: You, Lord, rule the stormy sea, You CAN calm its angry waves. Manytimes we are called to be still and acknowledge Him as God. Isaiah 43, 2: When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned, the flames will not set you ablaze. My favorite promise is in Exodus 14, 14: The Lord wil fight for you, you need only to be still.

There is no statement in the bible that there will be no storm, that God will protect us from them. In Revelation 4, 5: and from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings and voices. There is storm all around Him! I am convinced, that storms are very powerful times in our lives. In the storm, your senses are fully awake, you see the lightning in the darkness, you hear the thunder, you feel the rain on your skin, you smell the grass and soil with a new intensity. You can even drink and taste the rain. In the storm you become fully alive!

I think the best stormstory in the bible is Job´s story. Even though I believe not many of us will experience such a hardship, but we can learn a lot from this. Imagine being respected, very rich man, leader of community. And then suddenly, with no apparent reason at all, you loose everything. Your family, your possessions, your health, your authority. You end up sitting in the dust scratching your sores. And on the top of all this, you have to listen to your friends accusing you of surely doing something wrong in God´s sight! How much tougher can life become? What do you say about your God in a situation like this? Why did all this happen in the first place?

Let´s have a look at the beginning of the book of Job. Job was the subject of conversation between God and Satan. God said: „There is no one on earth like him, he is blameless and upright.” Satan, as usual, puts immediately a doubt on it: „Does Job fear God for nothing? You have blessed the work of his hands. But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.” God is righteousness, so He couldn´t ignore such an accussation against Job, saying he loves God only because of the blessings he was receiving. God said Job is blameless, so He allowed Satan: „Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.” In other words, God said, that He trusts Job. But, as a consequence of this, Job lost everything he had in just one day! In chapter 4 stands: If He puts no trust in His servants, they are broken in pieces, they perish forever, they die, even without wisdom.

Job is broken and curses the day he was born, he simply doesn´t understand what´s going on. But his heart stays true, he says what he thinks, he is not pretending to be holier than he is. God trusted Job, that he will go through this storm with Him. In the middle of suffering he will learn the most important lesson. That God never left his side. Finally  Elihu stood up and spoke on God´s behalf: „Who is a teacher like Him? God is beyond our understanding, He draws up the drops of water, which distill as rain to the streams, the clouds pour down their moisture and ABUNDANT showers fall on mankind. Who can understand how He spreads out the clouds, how He thunders from His pavillion? This is the way He governs the nations, and provides food in abundance. He fills His hands with lighting and commands it to strike its mark. His thunder announces the coming STORM. Listen! Listen to the roar of His voice, to the rumbling that comes from His mouth. He thunders with His majestic voice. When His voice resounds, He holds nothing back. He brings the clouds to punish people or to water His earth and show His love.”

Chapter 38 starts with the Lord speaking to Job out of the storm, giving him a few questions.. „Where were you when I laid the earth´s foundation? Who shut up the sea behind doors? Have you ever given orders to the morning or shown the dawn its place? Have the gates of death been shown to you? Have you entered the storehoses of snow?” In total 67 questions!! „Will the one who contends with the Almighty, correct Him? Let him, who accuses God answer Him!”

I am convinced that storms are from God, that they purify, bring life and wisdom. In the storm we can hear God´s voice like a thunder, with power, with amplified intensity. And we know it is just a matter of time we come out of this. We know how this will end. We will come out stronger, wiser, more in love with Him. So we might just as well concentrate on a moment, welcome the rain and let it bring life and growth to the areas of life that we need to become more alive in. With confidence, that He is in control, listening to His voice, knowing that He will never forsake us, that He will direct us through this. I don´t want to call Jesus in panick and then hear Him asking: „Where is your faith?” It is perfect time to show that His sacrifice is not in vain in your life. Because Jesus Himself intercedes for us by the Father: „Satan has asked to sift all of you as a wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail.” (Luke 22:31-32)