The Storm

 

“And the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.” Matthew 7:27.

We focus on the natural a lot of the time and wonder why these storms are wreaking havoc in our lives. We long for the peace that we experienced for a moment.

A while ago I wrote about a storm:

I woke up to a fight of heavyweights sparring in a ring above us in the heavens. Each thundering messages and challenging the other to a brutal fight for the championship, a real ruckus as I was disturbed from my sleep at 3 a.m. in the morning. That was in October 5 years ago.

Just last week we had another one of those storms. My first reaction was to pray. I said to my wife,” Why do we always get these noisy, violent storms on the Highveld where we live?” I’m not particularly fond of storms, but they come whether I like it or not.

In the mornings I usually spend some quiet time before the hustle and bustle of the day starts. It’s like an anchor to my life to be able to start right and I get valuable insights into life so that I am prepared better for what’s to come. I hope this time it isn’t a storm. But being a veteran of many storms with 69 years under my belt I have been through enough to know that they come and go.

So, how do I handle them and what advice can I give my readers? I came across a quotation this morning which throws some light on the subject in a beautiful way.

“God does not always provide explanations for your difficulties, but He does provide the promises of His Word.” Warren W. Wiersbe.

You see the greatest man who ever walked on this planet said something that is so important but many, many, many people forget it. “Man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD.” And it’s the key to life. We expect life to be like the peaceful river but most of the time we are battling with some storm, and we don’t have that peace ruling our hearts. We are focused on the wrong things.

How can we start the day’s journey without a word of advice for us for the storms of the day? The LORD is able to give each one of us a special message. Sounds far-fetched but it’s true. He can.

I’m just listening to the news. The bad news. Twenty criminals burst into a police station and robbed them of R1 assault rifles. They also robbed two filling stations and shops before leaving the area. I bet when they woke up this morning, they didn’t expect their day to be like that.

This is just one incident. We are being subjected to all sorts of storms including COVID-19 on a continuous basis. These things are continuing at a rapid pace and are there to rob us of our peace among other things. The same Man who spoke the words above said that “In this world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

This is my lifestyle to cope with the storms of life; I feed on the promises of God’s Word. He cares for us and will stand by us if we allow Him to. But the answers lie in His promises and by putting our trust in what He says.

I don’t know what life is like in other parts of the world. In my country we have all sorts of situations and challenges. It’s almost as if people are on the rampage to do wrong and not worrying about the consequences to the rest of us. The news is full of bad stories that, if you dwell on them you want to lose heart.

That is why I highly value my quiet time in the mornings spending time feeding on the promises and the Word of God. With it I have an anchor and a compass for my life. It is also my safety net. My way of staying sane. Then I can walk around with a smile on my face and peace like a river in my heart. I can offer a drink to someone thirsty from the “living water” I can share with them from the WORD.

One of God’s main purposes in blessing us is so that we can be a blessing to others. If we don’t share our blessings we become like the Dead Sea. So, I encourage you to be a blessing and share with people around you.

One last scripture to help you - because when I discovered it and did what it says I felt extremely blessed that had I found THE KEY to the Promises of God's Word! It's in James chapter 1 verse 25. It basically says that if you become a doer of the Word, you WILL be blessed. It's one of the precious promises. It has God backing it up!