God Is Faithful Through The Storms Of Life

“Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.” (Psalm 37:7)

(This week’s devotion commemorates the beginning of the hurricane season in the eastern United States and a story about a woman who survived the ravages of Hurricane Floyd in my hometown in 1999. It taught me about what faith and humility can mean when storms come.)

We live in a world that teaches us that we are at the center of whatever success or failure we experience. You know the old saying, “There’s nothing you can’t accomplish, if you put your mind to it.”
That all sounds real good, but it’s not true. Actually, it’s a form of humanism and we are peppered with it every day. So it’s no wonder we often face problems in our own lives with the notion that we can find the solutions.

We don’t need any help, even God’s. Yet, when we realize that our problems are larger than our ability to handle them, it’s then that we turn to God. Unfortunately, it’s often too late for him to repair the damage that has been done.

The Bible is full of stories about men and women who thought they had all the answers, only to find out that they could not save themselves from what life brought their way. It’s the very foundation upon which the Plan of Salvation is built. God’s hope is that all of us will eventually realize that we can never save ourselves form our own pride and folly.

True salvation can only come if we realize that we are born to sin, will continue to sin and will never be able to solve the problems that come from a sinful nature. That’s why Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” (John 14:6) In other words, all Christians ultimately understand that most problems, in and of themselves, have no real solutions. The real peace and joy comes not from life, but from the relationship we have with God, who loves us in spite of ourselves.

As Christians, we have to place our trust not in what we know, but in what we believe. That’s why the Bible describes faith as “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) Indeed, the Apostle Paul was right. “We live by faith, not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 5:7)

I don’t have to read the Bible to understand about the faithless. I simply need to look at my own life. It seems I spend far too much time trying to see God rather than learning to feel his presence and understand that he has always been there to help me, if I would just ask.

There’s a lady in my hometown who is like a mother to me. She lost almost everything she owned in Hurricane Floyd in 1999. There she sat in her apartment, unaware that floodwaters were inching towards her front door. By the time she finally noticed, water was filling the apartment and no one was in sight.

“The only thing I could think to do,” she told me, “was to get a flashlight and keep shining it out the window. But no one was around. I just prayed that God would save my life.”
She had no other choice but to wait on God’s amazing grace. But I’ve known her all my life and I’ve watched God save her time and time again from all the travails that life has brought her way. The difference between her and most of us in this world is that she never intended to rely on anyone but God in the first place.

So there my friend stood in her flooded apartment standing in water that was almost up to her neck. Most of us would have given up on God by now, but not her. God brought someone her way and saved her just in the nick of time.

When the first Sunday that followed Hurricane Floyd came around, she wasn’t feeling sorry for herself. She had nothing but rags to wear to church that morning. “If all I had to wear was my petticoat, I was going to church to praise him for saving my life. He isn’t looking at what I’m wearing anyway. God looks at the heart.”

I don’t know whether there’s a hurricane in your life or not, but I know the one who made it. Ask him to save you and wait on him, even if the water is almost up to your neck. Remember what Jesus said, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:8)