The past year has been a devastating time for multitudes of people around the world whose homes and businesses have been flooded and many swept away by the torrents of water, this not including the numerous deaths. Often it wasn’t just a flash flood but the results of constant rain day after day. I can imagine those who remembered the old nursery rhyme might have been singing, ‘rain, rain go away’, but altering the next verse, ‘don’t come again another day‘. We can be sure some were wondering ‘Will the sun ever shine again?’ Many times, I have flown out of airports under dark clouds and heavy rain. The first few times, I thought to myself, ‘This is going to be a rough flight’. I soon learned that within a few minutes, the plane would rise above the clouds and storm where the sun would be shining bright as ever. When we go through the dark and stormy times of life, we should remind ourselves, the sun is still shining bright but just hidden from our perspective.
The greatest struggle Christians face during the storms of life is not the storm itself but the fear and discouragement that can easily creep in. Someone said that the devil decided that he would have a yard sale, and get rid of some of his tools. He priced lust at a high amount along with pride, arrogance, envy, bitterness. When he came to the tools of fear and discouragement, He moved them to the side and placed a sign, ‘Not for Sale.’ When asked why, he replied, “Because they are more useful than all the others.” He uses fear and discouragement as a cloud obscuring the sun and the Creator of the sun, but they never even flicker. When Judah returned after the exile and attempted to rebuild the temple, their storm came from their enemies. Then the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building. v5 They hired counsellors to work against them and frustrate their plans (Ezra 4:4, 5). The word for frustrate means to break, to split, to thwart, or to cease. The enemies’ ultimate goal was to cause them to cease or give up. In this incidence, it worked. The Jews stopped for fifteen years. Frustration remains a major tactic during our storms. I’ve said in almost every class I’ve taught and often written in SW, “the only way you can fail God is quit.” Satan knows that and getting people to quit is his ultimate goal.
A danger we must guard against in any storm is fatigue. All through the recent storms, the news has shown people laboring to board up building, fill sand bags, and move their belonging to higher ground. Most looked exhausted. Regretfully, some probably gave up. Nehemiah returned to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem seventy years after the completion of the temple. The task appeared impossible, but he was a master planner. He divided the people up into groups and assigned each a section that was feasible for them to repair. However, the storm came and again the enemies sought to discourage them by mocking and fighting against Nehemiah and his groups. Half way through construction the people said, “The strength of the labourers is giving out, and there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall” (Neh 4:10 NIV). Nehemiah saw their fear and he rose and spoke to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people: “Do not be afraid of them; remember the Lord who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives and your houses.” When our enemies heard that it was known to us, and that God had frustrated their plan, then all of us returned to the wall, each one to his work (Neh 4:14, 15). In other words, Nehemiah reminded his weary workers that above the clouds of their storm, the sun was still shining bright and they regained the strength they needed.
Storms in life are unavoidable in nature and our spiritual life. I once researched what the safest place was in America in which one could avoid natural disasters—few even come close. As long as we live and serve the Lord, storms of life will come. Yet, through each one, we learn and grow in Christ. I have gone through several hurricanes here in South Carolina beginning with Hazel. I remember how afraid I was clinging to my mother as the winds howled and shook our old wooden mill house wondering if it would ever stop. Next morning the clouds were gone and the sun was shining as bright as ever. An appropriate description of our world today would be ‘stormy’. With all our personal storms and the storms of war, terror, and uncertainty in the world, it is easy to become discouraged. This week take note of the sun on a day when it is shining bright. Then on a day when it is cloudy and dark, look up and remind yourself the sun is shining just bright as the other day. When your personal storms overwhelm you with clouds of sickness, clouds of financial pressure, clouds of marital problems, etc. look up and remember the sun, the Creator of the sun, and your Creator are also shining as bright as ever.
Sustaining Word for the Week: Storms come and storms go. Remember they can only obscure the sun from our prospective, but the sun and the Creator never even flicker.