The Storms We survive
The churning, howling hurricane threatens the remains of your once-serene walls.
You have withstood the first assault, but here in the eye, it’s is eerily quiet.
You can’t stop the wind. There is nowhere for you to hide. What if the worst happens? You have no choice but to wait. Fear tempts you.
The gale picks up as the center of the storm passes, taking the silence with it. The rumble of the debris-strewn tempest growls; “Your defeat is guaranteed.” Terror grips you.
You crouch to make yourself small. You shield your eyes with one hand and fend off shrapnel with the other. You can’t think, plan, or wonder; hope is obsolete in the face of danger.
Eternity devours time as the monstrous crashing and moaning surge over you.
At last, silence. The storm has passed.
You stand to survey the wreckage of your asylum in quiet shock. Nothing spared, but you still live. So many whys and no answers. Where is God?
***
If you have been through cataclysmic events such as hurricanes, tornados, and earthquakes, the description above probably resonates with you. People who have experienced such dire circumstances have learned to prepare for the eventuality that it could happen again.
Some people have good networks. They are prepared for a catastrophe, they have EMS preprogrammed on their cell phones, and they know where the storm shelter is. They’ve stocked up on food, water, and medical supplies in case of emergency. They have alternate methods of communication in case cell towers are knocked out. They are as ready as ready can be.
But sometimes preparation isn’t enough.
Disaster comes. There is no one to blame. It’s not something that someone forgot to do, there wasn’t anything that could forestall or avert tragedy, no quick maneuver that might have purchased the narrow escape.
Where do you instinctively turn when tragedy strikes? When danger is imminent? What if a terminal diagnosis? Who is the first person you think of?
As a sufferer of chronic pain, I try to remember to pray to God before I reach for a pill to alleviate it. When I am injured, I cry out to God first, before I seek help from another person. When in sudden danger, the first name I cry out is JESUS!! Oh God HELP!!
There is sometimes an instantaneous rescue, and my next words are THANK YOU, LORD!!
But sometimes there is no reprieve.
A medic ministers to a soldier with a sucking chest wound on a gory battlefield; no matter how hard he tries, he will lose this patient. The next of kin will be notified; his body and personal effects will be flown home, but the last chapter of his story will become a chapter of tragic loss in the story of the ones who will mourn him.
A husband and wife have finally conceived after years of trying to have a baby. In the eighth month of pregnancy, they can no longer find a heartbeat. The baby is born dead. Instead of the crib that awaited him in a nursery filled with hope and expectation, a tiny coffin has become his body’s final resting place.
The father that loved and sheltered the teenage girl died too young, leaving her to endure torment and abuse from her jealous mother until she can stand no more and runs away. She swears when she has children, she will not repeat the sins of her mother, as she tries to emulate the goodness of her father.
Few of us could not share a story of personal tragedy. We may wonder why we had to suffer. In the middle of our storms, we ask; “where was God”?
King David was well acquainted with the storms of life. He was a shepherd, an anointed king on the run for 25 years before he could ascend the throne. He killed a giant and won the daughter of a king in marriage. He was a conundrum; a murderer, an adulterer, and “a man after God’s own heart”. Through the tragedy of losing his sons, and bearing the consequences for disobeying God, he learned to obey. Those who were closest to him betrayed him, yet He did not blame God. He wrote some of the most anointed and poignant Psalms in the Bible; they have been a source of comfort to every generation since his day.
One of David’s most inspirational expressions of faith in God amid trying circumstances is Psalm 139. It is a litany of praise to the Lord he loved. It speaks to David’s proper perception of God’s greatness and his relative smallness within God’s wisdom, creation, and knowledge.
(1) For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. O LORD, You have searched me and known me. (2) You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. (3) You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways. (4) For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O LORD, You know it altogether. (5) You have hedged me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me. (6) Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain it. (7) Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? (8) If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. (9) If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, (10) Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me. (11) If I say, "Surely the darkness shall fall on me," Even the night shall be light about me; (12) Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, But the night shines as the day; The darkness and the light are both alike to You. (13) For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. (14) I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. (15) My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. (16) Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them. (17) How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! (18) If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You. (19) Oh, that You would slay the wicked, O God! Depart from me, therefore, you bloodthirsty men. (20) For they speak against You wickedly; Your enemies take Your name in vain. (21) Do I not hate them, O LORD, who hate You? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You? (22) I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies. (23) Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; (24) And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting. Psalms 139:1-24
David learned that no matter where we are in God’s creation, He is there. He is faithful when we are not.
The One who holds you in His hands is with you at all times, watching over you to make sure that you continue to grow. His purpose is to make you conform to His image, His character, and His nature. He is the Good Shepherd Who lays down His life for the sheep.
If you can bear the superordination of God in your life, if you dare to die to your desires and plans and yield to the King of the Universe, if you can accept the knowledge of His Supreme love, then this Psalm is also for you.
Come, let us reason together. Will God, who has been with you through all the days of your life, even at the moment of conception, and through the entire time you were in your mother’s womb, suddenly lose His grasp on you?
With God’s permission, even by His design, storms come. Not a moment of suffering escapes His notice; He will refine you as silver and gold, and you will come forth as His radiant one when you have overcome. Even your physical death cannot separate you from the love of God; in the proper time, which is in HIS keeping, it is a doorway into Paradise and new, unending life.
My precious sister and brother, He is GREATER than the storm. He is the King of the Universe and the Creator of all things.
Praise Him in the leading edge of the storm, praise Him in the eye of the storm, and praise Him as the debris-filled storm passes by. He will not let go of you, though circumstances appear to imply He has gone.
Wait for Him. He will not abandon you. He has given His Word, His Son, and His Holy Spirit for your redemption.
Pastora Cate Covert
Well said.