Stormy Weather

"The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him." Nahum 1:7

The strong wind was bending the trees like a giant merciless hand. Through the window, I could see the yard grounds bloated with the rains that had been soaking into it, almost non-stop for days. The image before me was dim, cold and uninviting. I was glad to be indoors, sheltered in the relative comfort of the dry, warm and familiar surrounds of my home. Somewhere on the news were reports of storms hitting elsewhere, leaving some homes with damaged roofs while flash floods were impairing travel and generally making life difficult. Stormy weather!   

We all face the stormy weather of life. There are times when the gusty winds of life’s difficulties push us to the limit and the torrential rains of sorrow soak our heart and soul. Life’s storms do not exonerate anyone. They have no regard to age, and they do not select on any criteria whether it be education, culture, status or descent. We console one another with this general and vague knowledge that after all ‘everyone faces difficulties’ and that ‘life is meant to try us’. Some well-meaning comforter reminds us that ‘there is always someone worse off than we’, but somehow that doesn't really help us in our present struggle. Our best preparation, bravest courage and noblest mental attitude do little to shelter us from the blows and unforeseen challenges and trials that like those un-tethered winds, can buffet us, plague us and push us around.

Some of the troubled days we face, are of our own making, the result of poor judgement, disobedience or plain stupidity when we knowingly select to do or participate in those things that we know will expose us to distress and potentially harm us! Other times of trouble just seem to land at our door step, unsolicited by our choices and like a vexing blowfly, fly into our space clearly unwanted. These seasons of difficulty are very real and threatening as they absorb our time, mind, emotional strength and physical energy. They make us feel like we are walking up a downward escalator, for each step we take we seem to go backwards two. The unrelenting currents of trial push at us and would flush us downstream, requiring that we strain every mental and emotional sinew in our being, in an effort to stay on top.

Drained, floundering, and often feeling alone and wasted in our stressful experiences of life’s storms, we sometimes wonder how we can make it through and if there can ever be hope for a brighter, better tomorrow. We long to hide from the troubles that face us and long for shelter, reprieve and an end or at least a pause, in the struggle against the unseen forces that taunt us. Who truly understands? Where is refuge? Does anyone care?

To those who trust in the Lord it soon becomes clear that God is our only refuge. He is the strong place and high tower that can protect us in, and lift us above our troubles. He is the One who cares and can help us withstand the onslaught of life's turmoil. God is still God in times of crisis, and in the demanding, confusing times.  Knowing, loving and trusting Jesus is our strength and security at all times but particularly in the tough and challenging seasons of life. 

What's more the Lord knows those that trust Him this way and in such difficult situations! That speaks of a care and personal attention that is given by our loving God to those who in the midst of life's storms, when the billows of the oceans of trial toss and threaten, look to Him for strength, comfort and overcoming. Instead of relying on their own limited strength or the temporal camouflage of things or substances in futile attempts to survive, those trusting God know they can lean on Him, that He knows them and cares and that He is the answer! 



See also:
http://dailybiblefocus.blogspot.com.au/
http://www.pentecostalfamilychurch.com.au/devotion