Some people love storms. There are storm chasers who video them, take meteorology information from them, and report them on the news. Some people even take their lawn chairs and sit on their covered porch to watch them pass over their home.
Other people hide under the covers in a storm, or wear earplugs to avoid hearing the thunder, and draw their shades to keep from seeing the lightning. Regardless of our attitude about storms, we all face them – even at the most unexpected times in life.
When we turn control of our life over to God, He uses stormy trials to build our faith in His faithfulness, to purge us of negative fears and attitudes, to allow patience to have her perfecting work in our spiritual maturity (James 1:4-8), and to remind us to trust Him with our whole heart, not just part of it.
God’s sovereignty is a mighty stronghold for us if we establish the daily habit of walking in His Spirit and entering into His rest (Psalm 46:1, 94:22). No crisis in life has the power to defeat us – it is our attitude about the crisis that causes us problems. As we persevere in faith, we find hope in every predicament.
God’s Word is full of accounts of people who successfully navigated through a calamity by clinging to God’s reliability, love and care for us (1 Peter 5:7; Hebrews 11:39-40). They placed their hope in God, not in people, places or things.
God does not always rescue us from negative circumstances, but He always walks in us and with us through them all (Hebrews 12:1, 13:5). As we keep an eternal focus on the issues that we face, His wisdom and strength enable us to finish the race that is before us.
Prayer:
Father God, thank You for enabling us to maintain an eternal focus on the trials we experience in this life. We are either in a trial, just coming out of a trial, or about to enter a trial. Sometimes, one thing happens after another, giving us no respite in between. We experience trials that involve relationships, as well as some that include unhealthy mental, financial, emotional, and physical components. Yet, You allow us to overcome each one as victors rather than as victims.
We are constantly amazed that You have time, concern, and expend your energy and resources to think about humanity at all. We are like ants or worms – pesky pests always clamoring for You to intervene for us (Psalm 144:3; Luke 12:1, 6-7). We are even more amazed when we read that You rejoice over us with singing (Zephaniah 3:17), consider us as Your friend (John 15:12-15), and You look forward to our death so that we can spend eternity in Your physical presence (Psalm 116:15).
Thought for the Day:
We often wonder if we will ever experience love on this side of heaven; however, regardless of the attitude other people have about us, we do matter now, we have value and significance, and we are cherished and unconditionally loved by the God of this universe (Psalm 147:4); He made us in His image (Genesis 1:26-27), He knows how many strands of hair are on our head each moment of every day (Luke 12:7), and He loves us with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:2-4).
