We all have storms in our lives. Many come from without, and some come from within the ranks of the people we know best. During a tornado the experts tell us how to prepare and take cover. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. But who is the expert that speaks to you during the storms of life when it is going to take more than taking cover in a bathtub or a ditch?

I want to share with you three ways God speaks to us during a storm. The most elementary way God speaks is to your storm to shut it down. As time goes on, He no longer speaks to your storm, but to you. Finally, you will reach a place in God where He will not only speak to you during your storm, but He will speak through you.

Storm 1 – Jesus Speaks to the Storm

Matthew 8:24-26 NRSVUE[1]

²⁴ A windstorm suddenly arose on the sea, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves, but he was asleep.

²⁵ And they went and woke him up, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!”

²⁶ And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a dead calm.

Summarizing Storm 1

This account of disciples in a storm speaks to that of a child that is frightened during the night and imagines a monster is under their bed. So, the parent is awakened to get rid of the “boogey-man”.  Once that is done, the child is able to go back to sleep on the condition the parent stays with them until they fall asleep. The disciples are still children in their faith and understanding and have not yet made the connection between the miracles performed by Jesus and his authority as the Son of God having the same mastery as God over all the elements of heaven and earth.

Youngsters in Christ just want the storm to stop and until it does nothing can penetrate the heart and mind. The storm and the cries to “make it stop” are louder than God’s voice. God’s voice is not loud at all. One has to get quiet to hear Him and there is nothing about this stage that invokes quiet or calm.

Storm 2 – Jesus Speaks to You

Matthew 14:24-32

²⁴ but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them.

²⁵ And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea.

²⁶ But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear.

²⁷ But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”

²⁸ Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”

²⁹ He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus.

³⁰ But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and, beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”

³¹ Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”

³² When they got into the boat, the wind ceased.

Bonus Reflection:

Many people criticize Peter for sinking but the fact is that he was the only one who had faith enough to get out of the boat. Are we sitting in the boat, in the absence of any faith, criticizing others for failing in their little faith endeavors rather than encouraging them for their attempt at growth?

Get out of the boat! You may not succeed at first. Success is not measured by getting it right the first time, it’s about development and growth. Very few children grow without scraping a knee or two.

Summarizing Storm 2

Wind is a necessary force that propels the boat to its destination. In this storm, the wind that would normally work for the disciples begins to work against them; it became contrary. Occasionally in life–people, family, friends, church folk who under normal circumstances are supportive may turn on you. These same people that worked with you are now the force that is working against you. They have become contrary; they become your storm.

It is important to note that in this narrative the disciples’ attention was turned away from the contrary winds to absorb the faith lesson Jesus was teaching through Peter. The lesson was the focus, not the storm. Jesus never spoke to the storm.

Simply put, some storms don’t require your attention. They serve as distractions from the real focus, the focus of growing your faith. As we mature in Christ, we began to realize it is less about the storm and more about your faith and trust in God. It is not about the illness, the tragedy, the ostracizing, the struggles, the people, it is about the spiritual principles God is conveying to us during the storm. The storm is a vehicle that facilitates the growth of our spiritual aptitude.

Additionally, you should never measure your spiritual walk by the accolades of people. People are like the wind; you don’t know where they may be coming from from one day to the next. Eyes on Jesus, that’s your best bet.

Storm 3 – God Speaks to You and Through You

The two storms addressed previously occurred by means of nature being nature. This third storm is not the creation of nature but invoked by God. In the storms below. God speaks to and through the prophets, a leap above the positions the disciples were in the depictions in Matthew.

Storm Invoked for Judgement

In 1 Kings 17:1-24 Elijah told King Ahab, who was an evil king, that it would not rain, even dew will not appear on the ground…this is the storm of drought that God invoked through Elijah.

The principle here is the deeds of one person in authority can bring a storm to the land and people he rules. All will suffer. Although not excluded from the effects of the drought, God provided for Elijah and provided for those who provided for him. God gave Elijah specific instructions for his preservation during the drought and left it to Elijah to follow them or not. He followed them and lived.

Storm Invoked for Testing

God may also invoke a storm within a storm, in this case through a contrary person, to test your faithfulness. In this case, God speaks to and through a man of God.

In 1 Kings 13:1-32 a man of God was sent to King Jeroboam to pronounce judgement on him. God told the man of God that once the message was delivered, he was not to eat or drink in that city and he was not to leave the city the same way he entered.

On his way out of the city the man of God was approached by an old prophet of the city saying an angel of God told him that he was to eat with him before leaving. The man of God repeated what God had told him, yet the old prophet insisted he heard from God. The man of God yielded to the old prophet and followed him to his house to eat. Upon consuming the meal, the old prophet prophesied to the man of God that because he had disobeyed God’s instructions by tarrying, he would never reach home.

Fact is, God does test us. Jeremiah 11:20a says,

²⁰ But you, O Lord of hosts, who judge righteously,
who try the heart and the mind,

Don’t be appalled by being tested, everything that functions as intended goes through testing. Promotions in life, in school and career is a symbolic representation of what occurs in your spiritual life. If you cannot manage the next level in Christ, the Spirit of God does not promote you. You can however promote yourself or allow others to promote you before you are ready, but the results can be devastating just as they were for the man of God in 1 Kings chapter 13.

Where Are You?

God speaks to your storm.

• You probably respond in a panic mode
• You need to process and retain lessons taught

God speaks to you in the storm.

• You recognize the focus is not the storm but the lesson
• You realize the things you have been fighting in your storm may be the same things that will become your platform or fodder for your growth, so you stop fighting and listen

God speaks to you and through you in the storm.

• This is your goal. This is a place in God where you are intricately connected to Him but are also in a place where the adversary more intently wants to take you out.
• Be on alert for the test in the storm. Did you hear God’s instructions? Did you do what he said to do?

Centering in Your Storm

My testimony of a storm invoked by God and the test in the storm.

My personal storm was Benny[2], a relative, 25 years younger than I. He was a reasonable person for as long as you agreed with his stance. But when you did not, he went into a rage of profanities and name calling. It did not matter that I was a close senior relative, one that should be handled with respect. No, it did not matter to him. When he exhausted his reservoir of unsavory, unrepeatable messages left on my cell phone, he would go silent for a year or so. Needless to say, that would be about the time I would see his name show up on my caller ID. I would spend a  moment or so debating in my mind if I should pick up or not. Others warned me if I pick up, I was asking for it so don’t complain if he did it again. That’s why many didn’t have anything much to do with him.

I picked up. We were talking again, and I forgave him although he didn’t ask for forgiveness. This cycle of disrespect occurred a couple more times over the next few years. The third and last time, I promised myself I would not endure that again. I had turned my cheek enough. The last time was by far the worst he could muster. I kept the messages so the next time he called I would listen to the messages reminding me of the havoc he brings. After more than a year the call came as at other times. It was Benny. I remembered the three messages he spewed a year ago and I remember he said he would “spit in my face”. I sat looking at the caller ID thinking…then I picked up. I answered the call hesitantly but pushed by blind compassion not knowing if I was going to regret it or not.

Benny was in pieces; he was a broken man on the verge of suicide. We spoke for hours. Benny was a storm; inside there was turmoil, anger, hatred for his traumatic upbringing and the choices he made as an adult. He lost his wife, children, siblings and control of all those things that mattered to him. He had no one meaningful in his life. He was no longer a big man in the streets. He reached out to me as his last-ditch effort to grasp for any reason to keep on living.

The Center of the Storm

I had to get Benny to the center of his storm. There was nothing I could do to change the events of his life. They were swirling around him, and he was in the thick of it. I had to get Benny to the center of his storm, a place of calm, a place where he can know peace in the midst of chaos swirling around him.

To get there, I knew I had to walk with him through all the by-products of his traumas and wretchedness. This process took years. It wasn’t until we made our way to Benny’s center that he then was able to take responsibility where he needed to but also realize there was a future for him, a better life than his past. Over the years I had to keep centering Benny because the circumstances of his life became overwhelming sucking him out of his center. Eventually he realized the circumstances of his storm were not going to change, but he could change how he viewed them.

It’s been 4 years since that call. God did not silence Storm Benny, but he spoke to me and through me during that storm and we both were able to step in the boat without a word spoken to the storm. The storm is still there but it does not control him anymore. He is learning the lessons of the storm.

Benny has been legally blind for many years. But since getting centered he has acquired an associates degree and is currently in college to complete his bachelors. He has won custody of his two children and is a well-respected leader in his church. He was elected as president of his housing community for a third term.

Conclusion

During the storms in your life God does one of three things. He will speak to the storm because you are so consumed with the effects of the storm that you cannot hear him. Secondly, as you grow in faith, He will speak to you. As you continue to mature, he will speak to you and through you. Storms occur from the natural cycle of life’s experiences while others are sent by God to test our faithfulness.

In conclusion, live a life in Christ where you are able to position yourself to hear from God. God doesn’t need to quiet the storm in order for you to have peace. If Jesus could sleep during the storm so can you.

Praise You in this Storm – Casting Crowns

References

[1] New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition. All scriptures will be taken from this version of the Bible.

[2] Pseudonym applied to protect identity.

Featured image from oldworldgods.com

Eye of the Storm image from pixabay.com, entitled “Cyclone”