When it rains, it pours! If you are like me, you despise this inevitable phenomenon. We rarely have one problem but one problem followed by an avalanche.A project at work is pressing so you plan to spend a few extra hours working on it, only to find out that your child has come down with a strange illness. We know where the story goes from here. The first drops of rain are often merely a precursor to a raging storm and guess what? We forgot our umbrella!
“We rarely have one problem but one problem followed by an avalanche.”
‘Why God? Why do you allow these storms to rage in our midst, tossing us about like a rag doll? Why God? Things were going so well. What did I do wrong? Why are you silent?’ These are the questions of faith that love to present themselves during such circumstances. Much like our friends the disciples in Matthew 8:23-27 (Click to Read Passage) we stand terrified in the face of nature’s fury wondering how, in the name of all that is holy, is Jesus sleeping? Why is He silent? ‘You claim so much power, so why don’t you do anything?’ How often our vision is blurred in the onslaught of rain.
In our story, Jesus awakes and is said to rebuke the wind and waves. What follows is the silence of the calm. The storm has subsided in an instance. The tornado vanished and Dorothy’s house hits the ground with a resulting silence as she and Toto look at each other in bewilderment. But more curious then that is the comment Jesus makes to His disciples just prior to this miraculous action. “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” And silently to ourselves we think, ‘what do you mean why am I so afraid? Did you not see that storm? We were going to die! I have faith…faith that nature can do what it wants and that includes taking my life.’ So often our problem is not our lack of faith, but misplaced faith. We put our faith in the power of our circumstances instead of the Lord of All. We take our trust from our Father and give it to the powers of evil that delight in the use of our difficult circumstances as a weapon against God’s approaching kingdom!
“So often our problem is not our lack of faith, but misplaced faith. We put our faith in the power of our circumstances instead of the Lord of All.”
It is in these storms that Jesus excels, in such awesome power. Yet our questions continue. ‘If it is so easy to calm the storms and you have so much power why don’t you prevent them from happening?’ To some extent that is not our place. We are told in Isaiah 55:8 ‘”For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD.’ We are not privileged yet to see the entire picture. God is beyond us and we often must trust that He knows what He is doing.
Yet beyond that, it is through these storms that we witness God’s mercy and power. If it were not for the storm the disciples would not have witnessed Christ’s power over it. If it weren’t for April showers we wouldn’t have ‘May flowers’. If it weren’t for turmoil, we wouldn’t appreciate peace. God’s ways are not our ways and so often things don’t make sense. But I do believe in a God of love that is striving to further His kingdom in me and among us all and seeks a good that is beyond my comprehension. God loves us all!
Maybe you are experiencing a storm. Maybe there are dark clouds in the distance and maybe they are invisible to the eyes. Maybe you sit confused in the wake of a past storm. Have faith! Have faith that God is with you working in His own special way. Maybe God is using the effects of the storm to work His power in a way that is beyond us, to further His kingdom. Through this faith maybe we can pray the words from MercyMe’s song ‘Bring the Rain.’
“Bring me joy, bring me peace
Bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings You glory
And I know there’ll be days
When this life brings me pain
But if that’s what it takes to praise You
Jesus, bring the rain”
- AMEN-
