Storms

 I've never liked storms. You know, the kind with huge, grey-black clouds, deafening peals of thunder, and piercing cracks of lightning. I remember that as a small child I would cling to my mother as she went from room to room, closing the windows in our home as the storm moved in. She would often talk of how hard it was to do that while dragging around a four year old who'd suddenly become a part of her leg. Ah, the memories of childhood.

Here's another memory. With the simple logic of a child, I thought that when the storms arose, the sun and blue sky just disappeared, that they no longer existed. All that was there were the clouds, the thunder and lightning....and the fear. I also remember the wonder of learning that this wasn't the case at all. Above all the destruction, the sun still shines and the sky is still blue. The storms, no matter how strong, couldn't last. The sun would. It had never left. Life is like that. God is like that.

David writes in Psalm 18:11-12, "He shrouded Himself in darkness, veiling His approach with dense rain clouds. The brilliance of His presence broke through the clouds." In my Bible, the heading of this Psalm says of David that, "He sang this song to the Lord on the day the Lord rescued him from all his enemies and from Saul." Could it be that today you're finding yourself engulfed in darkness? Memories of bright, sun filled days are distant and almost forgotten. The "sun" is gone, and you don't see how you will ever know its warmth and beauty ever again. As you look up, all you can see is the steady, terrifying approach of more rain filled clouds. Clouds that you know will pelt you with steady sheets of heavy, soaking, depressing rain. Will it ever end? Can it ever end? You run to "close the windows," but you just never seem to be able to get to all of them. The floods are bound to overwhelm you. They would too, if it weren't for one mighty truth; in the midst of it all, His brilliant presence is there. A presence no cloud can hold back or blot out. A presence that will break through, and at just the right and proper time. A presence, His presence, that has been there all along. A presence that the most blinding storm cannot keep from being there.

Can you believe this today? Will you dare to? I still don't like storms, but they no longer terrify me. I know the sun's still there and I'll see it again. I don't like life's storms any better, but by His grace, I no longer fear them either. I know He's there. I know the brilliance of who He is, who my Jesus is, will break through for me and to me. I may not be able to reach and secure all the open "windows" in my life, but He will. Let the storm do its worst. It can't really harm me, because He not only stands before it, He stands in the midst of it. And because He does, I do too. You can and you will as well. Look above the clouds and into His face. His Word says that He "rides the heavens." Let's ride them with Him.

Blessings,
Pastor O