All eyes are on the extreme southern Gulf of Mexico and the Carribean as Tropical Storm Fay makes her way ever closer to the U.S. Mainland. For those of us in the coastal regions such a watch is important so that we can be prepared for landfall.
Storms often bring out the best and the worst in all of us. Sometimes, we band together to help one another board up windows and repair damage after a storm. Who can forget the outpouring of help to Katrina victims within hours of that storm? But bad weather also brings the con men and shysters, the frauds and price-gougers who seek to take advantage of discomforting hours and days.
Storms are also very much a part of the Bible. Remember that it was God who brought the first severe weather in the form of a flood (Genesis 6 – 9) as punishment for man’s evil ways and thoughts. It was also God who promised never again to destroy the world by water and placed the rainbow in the clouds as a reminder of that promise (Genesis 9:12-17).
It was God who sent a storm to convince Jonah of his error when he refused to obey God’s command to preach in Nineveh (Jonah 1:4) and it was also God who stilled the storm once Jonah had been cast overboard and into the sea (Jonah 1:15).
In the life of our Lord, Jesus we find storms being important. I think mainly of his words from the bow of a boat “Peace. Be still” (Mark 4:35-41).
We may or may not face an angry hurricane this week – I do not know. But surely you will face storms in life. Know that the same God who brought Noah to safety and whose Son stilled the Gallilean waters will also still the storms of your life. Trust him. He will not fail you!
