Recently I sat in my living room glued to the television. We were under a tornado watch for hours. This is not an uncommon thing where I live. Usually, it is in the Spring of the year, but since moving here I have found it can be almost any time of the year. I began to think about the storms that were moving across several southern states and wondered how many people have no shelter, or safe place when these devastating storms occur. It reminded me of how we are to prepare for the storms of life. Storms that may bring us to the end of our lives, or to a point where we feel hopeless without shelter.
Storms can be sudden, or we can see them coming, just like the tornados yesterday. We knew for days the forecast showed strong possibilities for tornadic activity. With all the forecasts many were still not prepared. They had no safe place and no emergency items. As an adult, I realize there are many storms in life that each of us must face. Some of them have warnings, but others do not. Many times, we bring these storms on ourselves because of our disobedience. Jonah was a great example of this type of storm. God gave him a command and he refused to obey. Because of his disobedience, God caused a great storm and he was swallowed by a great fish. God got his attention, and he was spared to fulfill what God had told him to do before he ran from God. However, we need to remember he had to suffer before he was willing to obey. We should learn from his disobedience, not our own.
Jonah 1:2-3 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me. But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.”
Jonah 1:17 “Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.”
Sometimes the storms are sudden. I’ve been where skies were perfectly clear, and within an hour they became dark and angry. For this type of storm preparation, you must prepare in advance. You know where you will go for safety, and you have all the emergency supplies needed. All of us will have a sudden storm one day. This storm will be death. Death can be sudden, where we have no time to prepare for eternity, or we may get a disease that allows some time to think and prepare, but we don’t know which situation will be ours. One thing is for sure unless Jesus comes first, we all will taste death. Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 teaches us that there is a season for everything. A time to be born and a time to die. Hebrews 9:27 reinforces the inevitable path of mankind. We all have an appointment that only God knows the day and hour of. We will die and then stand before God at the judgment seat. If we are prepared to meet God, this storm will not be a tragic one. This will be a time of sorrow that turns to joy unspeakable as we meet Jesus, and He ushers us into the presence of God.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;”
Hebrews 9:27 “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:”
In life, there will be many storms and when they come, we must have someone to speak peace to our souls, who understands, and someone who cares. Many face these storms with no hope. They have never endured a storm that seemed to suck the very life out of them. They search for answers in temporal things. They did not prepare before the storm came. They had lived their life for the pleasures of this world and now they can find no peace.
On the other end of that spectrum are those who are prepared. They face the storm with a calmness that baffles others. They have hope and peace in the middle of the storm. This kind of assurance can only be found in the one who can calm the storm. In Mark Chapter 4, Jesus had preached all day. The crowds were large, and at the end of the day He got into a ship with His disciples and they went to the other side of the Sea of Tiberias. Jesus was tired and went to the back part of the ship and went to sleep. A huge storm encroaches on them while He is asleep, and His disciples are afraid. They wake Him and ask Him “Do you not care if we perish?” He calmed the storm and His disciples marveled at what He had done. In Matthew 8:26, Jesus rebukes them and tells them they are fearful because their faith is little. They had been with Him and watched Him perform miracles, and while their faith was not great enough to keep them calm during the storm, it was strong enough to go to the source of peace. If they had not been with Jesus and spent time getting to know Him, they would not have known He could control their circumstances and give them peace.
Mark 4:35-39 “And the same day, when the even came, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side. And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships. And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship so that it was now full. And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he arose and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.”
Matthew 8:26 “And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.”
Are you prepared for the ultimate storm of death? What about the storms of day-to-day life, do you worry or do you trust? I challenge you to increase your relationship with the one who can calm the storms. If you do not know Jesus as your personal Savior then now is the time.
