And spiritually speaking, the storms of life can be damaging, also. The problems and difficulties that come into the life of a child of God are no less damaging than the hurricanes, tornadoes and floods that cause havoc in nature.
But thanks be to God, there is a difference, however. Christ can still the storms of life, just as he stilled the storms literally on the Sea of Galilee. We have to remember that we serve a God who can intervene in troubles — revealing the purpose and healing the wounds.
The preacher Andrew Murray stated, “Say this — ‘God can.’ That will clear up many a problem. That will bring you through many a difficulty in your life. We must desire and believe. We must ask and expect that God will do unlooked-for things. We must set our faith on a God of Whom men do not know what He hath prepared for them that wait for Him. The wonder-doing God ... must be the God of our confidence.”
Israel murmured and complained — they were mad at Moses, at Aaron, at God ... looking back to Egypt and even grumbling about their food. Still, God always supplied their needs — water, food, shelter and victory — whatever was needed. Read the summary of their murmurings and God’s blessings in Psalm 78:19 (KJV): “Yea, they spake against God: they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?”
Even after they came through their storms and entered the Promised Land, Israel still doubted the love of God. When they asked “Can God?” in unbelief, it showed they were not depending on His goodness and faithfulness.
The greatest consolation we have is that God is with us. “Thus shall they know that I the Lord their God am with them, and that they, even the house of Israel, are my people, saith the Lord God” (Ezekiel 34:30).
In 1964 I was driving to Los Angeles in my little 1963 Pontiac LeMans. As I approached a little town near the California state line, suddenly a windstorm blew up and I found myself on the other side of the mountain highway being tossed around by the high wind — getting too close to the edge, a steep drop-off.
I managed to get down from the mountain and found a motel. The highway ahead had been closed due to the dust storm. My car showed the effects — sand-blasting on the sides and pits in the windshield. But I felt God had protected me.
He has rescued you and me, also, from storms of life many times. There may have been damages — being blasted on every sides, it seems. And we’re left wondering, “Where did that come from?”
But as in the song, “Tell the Lord,” all our troubles are just blessings — “You can find out by telling the Lord.”
