Sometimes God appoints spiritual storms to enter our lives to reveal something that we need to know about ourselves or about Him, most of the time it’s both. As we learn to walk closer to Him the storms are fewer and far between and seem less frightful. Maybe they just seem that way because we are learning to walk with Him in the light that He is revealing to us. We no longer fear them because we have learned that they are sent to us as if the Lord is saying….excuse me, but I am trying to say something here!
You know, for the most part, our relationship to Jesus is simply, just a walking thing……God is constantly teaching us to walk by our faith in Him and not by what we see going on in our circumstances. He is trying to teach us to come up where He is, (run to our closet so to speak) but we are too busy begging Him to come down where we are. Often times He does come down to where we are, but I assure you it is only to pick us up and dust us off, so that we can re-start the process of learning and developing a personal relationship with Him. He knows, that it is best if we can come up to His level, because that is where the calm is. Storms do not brew around the Father. There is only rest and peace. But to get there, we have to go through a process and so many times it is just easier for us to keep begging God to come down to our level, than to make the effort to stretch ourselves and grow up in order to get up. You only have to read the scriptures to see page after page of folks going through the process of being refined into the likeness of the Father. It is with great care and patience that the Lord refines His children. He knows the process that must be taken to rid us of our spiritual carnality and worldly impurities; and the process can only be effective if it is done with the speed that we are learning it. He purges the bad out, so that only the good in us can surface and remain.
The purging comes in many ways, but on the most part it is done through the process of trials and tribulations. James 1 tells us to, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance”. The reason I can trust God in my current situation is because He’s proved Himself true and real to me in my other situations. It’s about going and growing and if we are not going with Him, then we are not growing in Him. Let me explain:
Remember the story about the disciples that were in a boat and a ragging storm came up …and they all ran to Jesus who by the way was asleep! Yep….the storm was ragging yet Jesus was asleep! Matthew 8 tells us, “Then He got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke Him, saying, "Lord, save us! We're going to drown!" He replied, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. The men were amazed and asked, "What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!"
You see at that point even the disciples did not really know Him on the level that Jesus wanted them to. God had His reasons for sending that storm to those men. Jesus was not only the Son of God, need we forget….He was a great teacher as well! As a matter of fact His lesson plan for that day was to take his class on a field trip; and oh what a trip it was to be. Each one of them had a hands on experience with not only the physical nature of the wind and sea but the incredible and awesome nature of God Himself. Jesus needed to reveal to them how weak their faith was and He just happened to be in the boat with them…..imagine….the SON of the LIVING GOD (GOD HIMSELF) was in the boat with them…yet they allowed the storm to raise fear in their hearts …perfect example for us to see ourselves sometimes… can you imagine how they must have felt when Jesus rebuked their faith…notice that as soon as the sea became calm, they were surprised or amazed. They said, "What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!
I guarantee their mouths popped open and they felt like a heal….I bet some of them thought to themselves….."I can’t believe that I even doubted", while others struggled with their first encounter of who Jesus really was. You see, that always happens to the child of God….when he gets to the other side of the storm….he says to himself…."how could I have ever doubted"….yet they did!
Jesus answered their cry even though they were cries of weak faith. He was trying to teach them through that storm that He was who He said He was. While their faith in Him was weak, and caused Jesus' heart to ache, He continued to be patient with them until they could see Him for who He was.
That is what God is doing in the life of every believer; trying to reveal who He really is. But without faith….it is impossible to not only see and know God, but to please Him as well. The reason Jesus was so calm that He could sleep, was because He knew who God was, and He knew who He was. The storm was not sent for Him. He was resting in that place that I was talking about (His closet where God was) ….up above the circumstance and storm. That is why He acted like He was unconcerned of what was going on. Sometimes we just need to sleep through the storm. Let it happen, maybe it’s not sent for you…..but if it is meant to be a messenger of God, like it was for the disciples or Jonah….it’s best to see and learn what you are suppose to from it! So you do not have to repeat the lesson. Grow as you go…and through the eyes of faith you will see Him in everything, and no longer be fearful every time a storm comes your way! For you will have learned Who and where to run to and you will find that you will run a lot faster each time!
I love you and pray that your storms will drive you to see Jesus....and that you find the peace that you may be looking for!
Bren
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