by Leon

When you hear the word storm your mind immediately starts painting a picture in your head. You hear thunder – you see dark clouds – you see lightning flash across the sky. You probably shiver a little, imagining cold rain abruptly falling from the sky to catch you during a moment of weakness.

Perhaps, you recall a time a downpour caught you unprotected, and you ended up soaked. Your mind can visualize a thousand and one scenarios merely by hearing the word – storm. Of course, for those of faith, you may imagine times of testing – times of hardship – times when it felt as if everything around you tore apart in the aftermath of absolute chaos. Since this is a faith blog, it’s only natural that we focus on these.

Storms are happening every day on this planet, somewhere and in some place. There is never a place where there is nothing but daylight. (Unless we talk about the coming Kingdom but that’s for another time.) The point is there is always a storm out there on Earth, it may not be affecting you, but it’s certainly affecting someone.

Likewise, the metaphorical storms of tribulation never cease, not for a moment. Sometimes we get hit with horrendous gales, often, it’s simply a squall. There are two major points I want to address in this blog.

1. How you react in a storm.

2. How you react when you see someone in a storm.

Both are simple, straightforward questions. How do you react when you get hit by a storm? For me, in brutal honestly; I would say it depends on the strength of the storm. I’m certainly not perfect and can wholeheartedly admit when the storm is weak, I have a lot more confidence that God will shelter me. Yet, during intense storms when it felt like everything was going wrong, I cannot deny it was more difficult to retain that same confidence. We need to make it our goal to work on having faith that God will shelter us from the storm despite its strength.

It’s not so easy but we can learn. There are countless examples in the Bible where we can see how imperfect men & women of faith react facing a storm. Thankfully, the Bible does not only account for the right reactions but also gives us insight on individuals choosing the wrong reactions. One of my personal favorites regarding a wrong reaction is Jonah fleeing from God rather than facing an inevitable storm. (See book of Jonah) Although Jonah was a chosen messenger of God, we still get to see that even those chosen can make mistakes and choose the wrong path during a storm. Of course – for those who read the book of Jonah we know he goes on to repent and make the right choice. You can do that too. If you find yourself caught in a storm and know you haven’t been reacting in accordance with the Bible, you can make a change of direction just as Jonah did.

One of my favorite reactions, of a good manner, is the story of Joseph. (See Genesis 37) You can see him start in a storm that increasingly grows in intensity. Despite this, he has rock-like faith in every situation. We should aspire to build up faith as strong as Joseph. No matter the strength of the storm his faith was unmoving.

This brings me to the second question. How do you react when you see someone else in a storm? Remember not everything is about us – people around us all face storms. The Bible reminds us over and over and over to love those around us. So, my final question to you on this Wednesday is what are you doing to help those who might be caught in a storm?

I hope this blog has been thought-provoking. I also want to give a big thanks to Amaryllis for allowing me to accompany her on this journey.

Sincerely, Leon.