Good morning…
“Why did Jesus send his disciples into the storm?” asked yesterday’s dynamic devotional quoting Paul David Tripp.
“He did it for the same reasons he sometimes sends you into storms – because he knows that sometimes you need the storm in order to be able to see the glory,” came the quick, tidy answer. “For the believer, peace is not to be found in the ease of life. Real peace is only ever found in the presence, power, and grace of the Savior, the King, the Lamb, the I am.”
My heart began to wonder a different question. “Does Jesus really send us into storms so that we can see God’s glory revealed in new ways?”
Does the Creator/Christ/Spirit send us into painful storms on purpose? Car accidents. Sudden suicides. Coronavirus cases. Natural disasters. Dreaded diagnoses. Stockmarket crashes. Drug overdoses. Depressive episodes. Marital misery. Debilitating anxiety. Relationship betrayals. Gargantuas grief. Does Jesus really send us into storms so that we can see God’s glory revealed in new ways?
I think the Light of God’s glory eventually shines through even the most dank, most dark, most difficult seasons. As John 1:5 (NLV) promises, The Light shines in the darkness. The darkness has never been able to put out the Light. Then in 1 John 1:5 (AMPC) God’s Word continues to illuminate, And this is the message [the message of promise] which we have heard from Him and now are reporting to you: God is Light, and there is no darkness in Him at all [no, not in any way]. So, to me, the thought that Jesus decides to send us into storms, to send us into darkness, to send us into pain on purpose, that just does not make sense. God meets us in the storm, the dark, the pain, but I do not believe God decides to devastate us on any given day.
What helps me as I process the most painful situations is to separate the “forces of life” from our living LORD. I think the natural “forces of life” sometimes clash, crash, and culminate, forming deadly storms, stirring up stressful strife, causing chaotic circumstances we would never choose for ourselves or wish upon even our worst enemy.
For each one of us, this life of faith involves leaning into our best guesses. I am guessing that Jesus does not purposefully send us into the hardship of harm’s way. Storms are just a part of the landscape of life. Some storms we bring upon ourselves by our own poor choices. Some “perfect storms” suddenly erupt and overwhelming envelop everything. Some dark, dark, dark nights descend upon us because unpredictable storms sweep up our loved ones. My best guess is that God does not decide, “Today I will give that child cancer, that mother mania, that father financial ruin, that son suicidal thoughts, and those people a helicopter crash that kills all on board.”
My best guess could be wrong, but my new realization feels right. Regardless of why storms rage, whenever and however they do, if we are able to endure the dark, dark light of long sleepless nights, we get fresh glimpses of God’s glory revealed in new ways. God’s eternal purposes eventually emerge through our pain, but I think the “forces of life,” natural and imperfect, sometimes send us severe storms, rather than extreme anguish being caused by our compassionate Creator. My best guess could be wrong, but my new realization feels right.
We are each invited into an intimate, ongoing conversation. If I say, “For sure the darkness will cover me and the light around me will be night,” even the darkness is not dark to You. And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are the same to You. For You made the parts inside me. You put me together inside my mother (Psalm 139:11-13, NLV). In the warm womb and in this wounding world, God sees, God knows, God understands that everyday life sometimes sends us into severe weather. Even if God does not choose it, God certainly can use it, as our ever-present Sustainer whispers in the stormy dark, “And I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, Who calls you by your name” (Isaiah 45:3, AMPC).
When our name is quietly called by our caring Creator, what will we whisper back?
…Sue…
