In the storms of life…

In life, storms come and go. In our weather, during times of the year, we experience more storms than normal; we often refer to these as seasons. Seasonal storms in the Midwest can pack quite a punch and do much damage. I remember well the storm in Joplin, Missouri in 2011. On that Sunday evening, a devastating tornado damaged nearly 8,000 buildings (destroying over 4,000), and the damage surmounted $2.8 billion – the costliest single tornado in U.S. history. As we walked around to offer help, we were overwhelmed by the destruction. The stories. The heartache. In order to spare you your own heartache, I will not recount the stories; however, 158 people died in forty-five minutes. A beautiful day which turned deadly in just mere moments. A storm changed so many lives that day.

Joplin Tornado 2011

Storms come and go. Since that day in 2011, I recall in July 19, 2018 when a Ride the Ducks boat sank at Table Rock Lake. On that Thursday evening in the middle of the summer, there were storms in nearby states; however, the skies were blue and sunny. My son had taken his canoe to Table Rock earlier that day and had safely returned home. No one knew ahead of the storms and cloud line the winds were howling over 60 mph. On this beautiful day, in just moments after the wind began, everything changed. The 31 people aboard this evening fun cruise had no idea that within minutes, in the midst of a storm, they would capsize and 17 would be killed.

Video capture from KOLR 10 in Springfield of the boat right before it capsized.1

We do not know when our storms will hit.

In life, there is no way to know when we will enter in a season of storms. In the span of a few weeks last February and March, multiple friends lost spouses unexpectedly. This past week, a dear friend and former colleague died of a heart attack. Storms come.

For others, they look different. Health crises. Lost job. Traffic accident. Heartbreaking news about a family member. A friend or family member caught in sin. Being sinned against.

Storm after storm come upon us – often without warning, then again sometimes developing over a long period of time.

Paul, Luke, and 274 others got caught in a life-threatening storm (Acts 27).

In Acts 27, Luke tells the story of a life-threatening and life-changing storm. He was traveling with Paul from Caesarea to Rome to be brought before Ceasar for a trial. It was September/very early October. The Mediterranean can become extremely dangerous in this season. Fog and storms can combine to create the perfect conditions for a catastrophe. On this trip, they traveled as far as Fair Havens, near the city of Lasea. Here, Paul desperately tried to get the centurion to winter. However, the seamen and owner of the ship convinced him to sail on toward Phoenix, a harbor of Crete, where they would hope to winter.

That’s when the storm hit. Luke describes it:

Not long after this, a hurricane-force wind called the northeaster blew down from the island. (Acts 27:14)

Things went from bad to worse. They could not control the ship. They began to be blown toward the coast of Africa where all feared they would be shipwrecked. Against all odds, they fought to keep the boat headed toward the northwest. Read this one-verse summary from Luke of their desperation:

When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and a violent storm continued to batter us, we finally abandoned all hope of being saved. (Acts 27:20, emphasis mine)

But God.

Persevering through the storm…

What we observe with Paul helps us as we seek to maneuver through our own storms as well. Paul demonstrates what it is like to trust and obey God in a ship headed straight for shipwreck, which serves as a great challenge for us as well.

Their circumstances looked grim.

Of the 276 on board this ship headed toward Rome, none of them would have signed up for this. Fog, clouds, and hurricane force winds all combined to make this situation overwhelming. To embark on this journey in late September/early October went against all navigational wisdom. For various reasons, including some sinful ones, Paul, Luke, and the others were in a situation they begged to avoid. There are seamen and an owner responsible for this situation. In fact, it seemed as if they doubled down on lack of wisdom by leaving Fair Havens. They faced many days of trials on the boat wondering whether or not they were going to live. To the person, they were malnourished, worn out, and had lost hope.

Paul gets a word from God.

While Paul was sleeping, an angel from God came to him. He gave Paul a message for him and all those with him. Paul learned that the boat and everything in it would be lost; however, the people would all be saved. God made a promise; Paul depended upon it. Notice how Paul describes it:

Therefore keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will be just as I have been told. But we must run aground on some island.” (Acts 27:25).

Imagine that good news. God was going to save them; however, they had to run aground first. Paul knew that was going to happen because he trusted in God.

What happens here is helpful to us. Let me explain.

1. As always, in this instance, God has a plan which included going to see Caesar. Jesus had promised this already (c.f., Acts 23:11). Yet, in this text, the angel reminded Paul of the promise. I think there are two great implications that we cannot miss here.
   • Even though Paul, Luke, and the other passengers would not know it by looking around at the waves, the clouds, and the havoc onboard the ship, God had a plan. He was working out that plan in His great counsel. He sovereignly and providentially was at work. God is covenant faithful – even when it did not seem like it. Although horizontally, all looked bad and lost, vertically all was just fine.
   • Paul had to be reminded about God’s promise. This is very interesting. Paul didn’t ask to be reminded. Instead, God sent an angel to remind him. God knew he needed the reminder! Think about this. Jesus had been the one who had promised Paul that he would get all the way to Rome. Yet, in the midst of this very tough trial, God reminded Paul again. In God’s estimation, Paul needed to hear one more time that God would fulfill the promise He had already given to Paul through Jesus.
2. Although God had a plan and was fulfilling that plan – including being faithful to all His promises – Paul and the others around him still had to go through personal loss. They would get to keep their lives; however, they were going to lose the ship and all its contents. Consider that loss for a moment:
   • Ultimately, God, of course, was covenant faithful. God never turns back from a promise. He never changes. What God promises, He always does. God never fails.
   • Yet, in this instance, there is a lot of loss. This is nothing easy about this situation. Real people lose really big. Vertically, God is faithful. Horizontally, there is real loss. God never promised Paul, nor does He promise us, that we will not experience true loss in life. Sometimes, in fact, we experience much loss, like Paul, Luke, the owner of the ship, and all the others onboard. We see levels of loss like this all over the Bible. Job is faithful, yet he experiences loss. Martha and Mary are faithful, yet they must go through the loss of a brother. Stephen is faithful, yet he loses his life.
   • God’s faithfulness is not determined by whether or not we go through a horizontal trial. As Jesus taught, in this world, we will have trouble. In life, there are trials, troubles, and suffering of every kind. In other words, an absence of trials, troubles, or suffering does not equal God’s faithfulness to us. Instead, we must recognize God’s faithfulness even in the midst of these things.
3. Paul chose to trust and obey God in the midst of this dire situation. He carefully listened to the angel, trusted what was told him, and carefully obeyed. Others onboard the ship started to do things inconsistent with God’s plan; therefore, Paul warned them sternly and helped keep them safe. They, like him and Luke, experienced trauma to the nth degree. Yet, God’s grace sustained them through it. Consider for a moment how it sustained them.
   • In gratitude, they were able to eat and enjoy the food God provided for them. For fourteen days in the heaviest of seas, they had focused all their effort to do all they could do to keep the boat upright, sailing in the right direction, and together. Having gone without food, Paul recognizes they still needed food for the rest of the journey. He encouraged his fellow passengers to eat. After Paul gave thanks, he ate. All the other passengers were encouraged by him and ate as well.
   • They exercised faith together. As the narrative continues, after they had eaten, they threw the rest of the food overboard as well. Think about that! Paul led them into exercising faith together. At that point, they were all-in on trusting God. Since God is faithful to His promise, they knew they could trust Him to fulfill it, which meant the loss of the ship at some point. In order to make the ship as manageable as possible, they threw the food overboard.

In the storms of life, how do we respond?

Each of us go through our own personal storms. In the storms of life, how do we respond? Let me suggest ways we can respond in faithfulness as well.

1. Listen to God’s voice. We do not have angels, but we do have the Bible. It helps to remind ourselves of God’s promises and His plan through the Word. Sometimes it is easy to neglect the Word of God in a heavy storm. In these instances, we want to intentionally read, meditate, and remind ourselves of its contents. The Bible is God’s voice to us.
2. Exercise faith on our way toward obedience. While we remain consistent in the Word, we need to trust what it says. The old hymn writer encouraged us to “trust and obey.” Yes. Know what God says to us and stick to it.
3. Keep our eyes on Christ and eternity. Our temptation will be to place our focus on the size and direction of the waves hitting us in the midst of the storm; however, we must keep our eyes on Christ and eternity. Jesus loves us, promises us never to leave us, and invites us to come close to Him for rest. As we do, we realize He is faithful. The experience of the storm, the size of the waves, and the significance of the loss do not determine God’s faithfulness. Instead, Jesus is the embodiment of God’s faithfulness to us as we make our way toward eternity.
4. Remember God’s promise to take us through rather than look for a way of escape from the trial. When I read about these seamen who tried to sneak off the ship on the lifeboat, I see a faint resemblance to myself. In the storm, we can try to escape, accept our own wisdom, seek our own ways, and follow our own wisdom rather than carefully trust and obey God.
5. We trust and obey even when it is hard. Ultimately, we must simply trust and obey. In trauma, trust. In doubt, trust. In confusion, trust. In sadness, trust. In disappointment, trust. In loneliness, trust. We put one step after another as we depend upon the Holy Spirit and God’s grace to sustain us. We persevere, not by our strength but by the Lord’s. In our weakness, Christ and His grace is strong in us. We ask God for wisdom as we go.