A friend lives in California, and as she doesn’t experience the effects of thunder storms much in the Wild West, the girl will actually stand with the door wide open during a storm whenever she comes back home to Michigan.
The booming crash of thunder, and lightning streaking across the darkened sky do not frighten her…the girl loves it.
I say this with the love of a true friend…she is crazy!
My mother has the same craziness. Let the weather dude announce a ‘Tornado Watch,’ and we will find mom standing in the door, saying to our pleading that she seek shelter, “I will when I hear it coming down the street…”
What is it about storms that drives otherwise rational people to do silly things?
I don’t know, but as for me, when stormy days come all I want to do is go to bed. I don’t like thunder, lightning, heavy rain, strong winds, freezing rain, blizzards, tornadoes, or any other weather interruptions…I don’t like storms.
Let it stay a nice 73 degrees year round, with the sun shining during the day and cool in the evening, and I will be happy.
But alas, tis not the way of things. In simple terms, storms blow in as the result of a violent disturbance of the earth’s atmosphere.
Sometimes we have advance warning that something is brewing and are able to escape danger by seeking shelter or evacuating the area. Advance notice of impending storms allows us time to prepare…
Folks will board up windows during hurricane season. When a blizzard or ice storm is predicted, the warning signals that we need to run to the store for food or buy a generator in case we lose power.
Depending on where we live, we may make sandbags to prevent water from reaching our abode when we are forewarned of heavy rain and flooding.
It would be nice if every storm came with a red flag waving, saying, “Ready or not, here I come!” but it doesn’t happen that way…
However, in describing storms, someone wrote, “Understanding the conditions that give rise to powerful storms is the key to preparing for their devastating effects.”
For example, if it is an extremely hot day, but suddenly the temperature drops and the sky begins to darken, “it is ‘good’ weather for a tornado,” as my daddy would say. Those who have lived in a tornado region for any length of time know what to do…
We should end the picnic or ballgame right away, call the kids inside, take the clothes off the line (for those who still do that sort of thing), open a window to release pressure in the house, get the flashlights and check the batteries…you get the idea. Experience has taught those in ‘tornado alley’ what to look for and what to do.
But for all of our precautionary measures and advance warnings, we cannot control the timing of storms. They blow in, do their thing, and are not concerned with our plans. We can take every precaution and yet feel the effects and experience the consequences of a sudden storm.
As the Bible so clearly describes it...
He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust (Matthew 5:45). KJV
As it is with the weather patterns, so it is that we cannot always control the storms of life when they blow in. Regardless of all precautionary measures, the storms of life come, and as with the natural storm, they do not discriminate. The sanctified folk go through just like the unsaved.
So we can be assured that sooner or later we will go through a storm. That is our first bit of encouragement, y’all, in that storms do not come to stay. Sometimes they seem to come one right behind another, but storms are never permanent fixtures. We will go through it.
There are storms that we just can’t outrun or anticipate. With a squall or windstorm, there is hardly ever an advance warning…they seem to appear from out of no where, and with some situations that arise, it seems that it is the same scenario. From out of no where a storm blows in our lives which cause us great fear and trepidation.
But the bright side is, and there is a bright side...not every storm is meant to bring us harm. Some storms are for our making and are a necessity. If it were not for the storm, God only knows...
So be encouraged that every storm is not destructive or deadly. People do survive being in the eye of the hurricane. A typhoon may capsize their vessel, but folks do live to tell the tale. The tornado may have taken out their barn, but the house is left standing.
Survival in the storm is not based on luck or chance, but is possible only because the Lord’s timing decreed it to be so. If it is our time to leave here, there is not a storm shelter in the world that can prevent it.
But, by the same token, if the Lord says that there is yet work for us to do, the tornado can spin us around like Dorothy’s Kansas farm house, and we will live.
It is my humble opinion that people do not die before their time…how many times have we heard folks say that? It is true that someone may leave here before they reach a ripe old age, but their demise is never before their appointed time.
So look up...though it may feel as if the storm is too hard to bear or that it will be the end of us, we have assurance that it won’t rain always. He will not put more on us than we can bear, and we shall not die before our time.
There is a secret to the storm, and our attitude plays a huge role in the outcome. While seeking shelter under a table from a tornado, Steve Adams penned these words…He gives me peace in the midst of the storm!
Though we may be shivering from the cold, uncertain of the outcome, the peace that passes all human reasoning and understanding will give hope and confidence in the One who does all things well. This peace allows us to ride through the storm with victory.
And true enough, there are some storms that we just have to ride out. But as we do, at the end of the day the sun is once again shining and the dark clouds have rolled away.
Several years ago, I left the home of someone in a state of upset and turmoil. They were angry with me and had likewise worn the last nerve on my patient meter. It was not a good day…
As I left and got on the highway, it seemed that the rain began to fall in buckets. It was raining so that I had to pull off the road…visibility was zero.
But as the rain subsided, the most remarkable thing happened. The rainbow came from the left and arched so that it ended in the middle of I-69. My mother and I stared in amazement as I drove right through the rainbow…I know this word is overused today, but it truly was amazing!
The Lord took the stormy condition we had left and brought a smile to our faces and a peace that cannot be described.
He wants to do that for us each and every time the atmospheric pressures of life bring violent disturbances to our lives.
We don’t have to anguish over situations and worry that we will be consumed in the storm. It is not necessary to wring our hands…we can lift them, thanking the Lord for seeing the rainbow while we are in the rain.
That is the uniqueness of our God. Our vision is limited…it is only hindsight that is 20/20, and our accessibility is limited as well...we can't be everywhere or all things to all people.
But not so with God.
Not only did He see us at the beginning of time going through this storm, He will be with us in the here and now as we ride through it, and be waiting on the other side as we cross over into victory, all at the same time.
That is just the awesomeness of God. He is the vessel and rides with us in our earthly vessel. He is in the storm and waiting on the other side as we make it through. It is almost too hard for our teeny minds to fully comprehend, but such is our God.
Hear the Word of the Lord…
For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome (Jeremiah 29:11). AMP
The Lord is thinking about you and me right now. His plans are not for failure in the storm. The plan of the Lord is that we prosper and be in health. His design for our lives is peace and not evil.
Remember that the Lord not only saw Job’s storm but gave the devil permission to afflict him, knowing all along the final outcome. Whoa! Does it make you wonder if the devil goes to the Lord about us, and God says “Dude, take your best shot, but this far, and no farther!”
And as with Job, the all knowingness of God is confident that we will make it. The Lord doesn’t take Valium because He is nervous about our situation. He isn’t pacing the corridors of Glory because we are going through. He doesn't remove His hedge of protection, hoping we will fall.
God sees victory and not defeat, and so must we! The Lord has our best interest at heart!
Be encouraged today in the Word…
Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy (I Peter 4:12-13) .
Do not fear or dread something God may have ordained for your good. Learn the secret in the storm...learn to praise!
IT WON'T RAIN ALWAYS
(Gloria Gaither / Bill Gaither / Aaron Wilburn)
Someone said that in each life
Some rain is bound to fall
And each one sheds his share of tears
And trouble troubles us all
But the hurt can't hurt forever
And the tears are sure to dry
And it won't rain always
The clouds will soon be gone
The sun that they've been hiding
Has been there all along
And it won't rain always
God's promises are true
The sun's gonna shine
In His own good time
And He will see you through
The sun's gonna shine
In God's own good time
And He will see you through!
(Gloria Gaither / Bill Gaither / Aaron Wilburn)
Someone said that in each life
Some rain is bound to fall
And each one sheds his share of tears
And trouble troubles us all
But the hurt can't hurt forever
And the tears are sure to dry
And it won't rain always
The clouds will soon be gone
The sun that they've been hiding
Has been there all along
And it won't rain always
God's promises are true
The sun's gonna shine
In His own good time
And He will see you through
The sun's gonna shine
In God's own good time
And He will see you through!
