The Storms of Life

I woke Saturday morning to the sounds of thunder, heavy rain, and stiff wind.  I lay there and listened, grateful I was not out in it.  We have had a lot of storm/tornado warnings in the last few days.  I immediately thought of my children, scattered in five different places. 

The ones in Nashville and in Oklahoma have strong tornado watches. The one in Pennsylvania has severe thunderstorms forecast.  Atlanta shows no rain, but strong wind gusts.  New Zealand shows wind gusts of twenty-five to thirty miles per hour.  (That last one concerns me because he lives on a boat.  There are waves to deal with.) 

These physical storms concern me, but even more I pray for safety in emotional and spiritual storms.

Psalm 107 describes what could be any kind of storm.  Let’s begin at verse 24.

         “These see the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep.

For He commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.

 

They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths:  their soul is melted because of trouble.

 

They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit’s end.

 

Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and He bringeth them out of their distresses.  

 

He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. (I love the phrases used in the NIV:  “He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed.”)

 

Then are they glad because they be quiet; so He bringeth them into their desired haven.” 

Do not believe I am speaking only of my children. I, too, face storms.  I am sometimes tossed in trouble and I stagger to and fro. But when I cry to Him, He stills the storm to a whisper and the waves of the sea are hushed.

Saturday evening is ending with the alarm of the weather radio going off over and over. We have been under a tornado watch for hours.  I am sitting on my nice cozy couch in my basement. And I have been reading about storms. 

Psalm 107 is the perfect chapter for today.  There is one verse that is repeated four times, so we cannot ignore it: “Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and or His wonderful works to the children of men!”  I cannot end without praising the Lord.  He is with me in the storms and He calms me. 

In Mark 4 Jesus calms a physical storm.  The disciples are with Jesus in a boat on the Sea of Galilee when a storm comes up suddenly.  The disciples are afraid they will perish.  They wake Jesus who is asleep in the back of the boat.  They say, don’t you care?  He says, Peace be still, and the wind cease and there is a great calm.

What I want to point out is Mark 4:36.  There were other little boats with them--others who were affected by the storm.  Others who experienced the peace, the calmed waves.  There are others who are affected by storms, sometimes even the same storm. May they also experience peace. May we be the example of peace in the midst of the storm.

~~Faith Himes Lamb