We See Him Better IN THE STORMS!

Fifty years ago there was a young man who was a rising star. He was selling one hit record after another. He had it all. The one thing missing in his life was Jesus Christ. He started taking "pep pills" and soon became addicted to amphetamines. He was arrested in 1965 and the police found more than 1,000 pills in his pockets. He quickly went from 200 pounds to 140 pounds. Then one day because of his drug use he had a severe car accident which broke his nose and knocked out four teeth. He was steadily going downhill. He was facing his own personal "storm." Then on May 9, 1971 this young man was sitting on a pew in a church in his hometown. When the pastor finished his sermon he gave an altar call. The young man walked up to the old wooden altar and gave his broken life to Jesus Christ. His name - Johnny Cash. He had not seen Christ in his worldly prosperity because he was not looking for Him - but in the midst of his own personal storm he did see Him. We see Jesus better in the storms.

Then there is the true story of another young man who at the age of 33 had already earned his first million dollars. At age 43 he controlled the largest company in the world. At age 53 he was the richest man on the earth and the worlds only billionaire. Then suddenly he developed an illness called "alopecia". All the hair on his head dropped off. Even his eyelashes and eyebrows disappeared and his entire body shrunk like a mummy. His weekly income was one million dollars and yet he could only eat milk and crackers. He could not sleep and he had long since stopped smiling. He was in his own fierce personal storm. He was a man so hated that he had to have body-guards day and night. The doctors predicted that he would be dead within one year. Even the local newspaper had joyfully written his obituary in advance in eager anticipation of his demise. All of those sleepless nights eventually got him to thinking and he realized that money was not everything and that he would not be able to take one dime of his billions into the next world. That night, he got down on his knees and prayed. He realized his sins and his desperate need of Christ. He asked for forgiveness, he repented, and Jesus came into his heart. The very next morning everything about him had changed. He no longer hoarded and coveted his tremendous wealth. Instead he began using it to help churches, he helped the poor and the needy. He established a foundation whose medical research led to the discovery of penicillin and many other medical breakthroughs. He began sleeping better, eating better, and enjoying life as he never had before. The doctors had predicted that he would not live past the age of 54. He lived to be 98. His name - John D. Rockefeller. Never in his life had he ever given a single thought to Christ - until he saw him in the storm.

Many people simply give no importance at all to the idea of having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. For a small worldly materialistic reward many will hurry away on a long journey; while for eternal life, they will hardly take a single step - until - they are caught up in their own life storm. Then they come to realize that security, joy, happiness, contentment, assurance; none of those can be found in worldly things. The safest place to be - is within the will of God!

Then there are those who see God and love Him only for the same reasons that a farmer loves his cow - for the milk and cheese, the profit it brings them. They love God only for what they can "get out of Him." A person does not truly love God when they love Him only for their own advantage. Indeed, any worldly object you have in your mind, however small, will be a barrier between you and God. It is in prosperity that a man often forgets God, and so, we can often stand affliction better than we can prosperity because God sweetens our outward pain with His inward peace. In prosperity man tends to ignore Christ and become blinded to him. We see Jesus better in the storms. When the disciples were in their ship and a storm came upon them Jesus came in the midst of the storm walking on the water, and the moment that He stepped into the ship, the wind ceased, and the storm vanished. We see Him better in the storms.

The love of the world that abides in us presses us continually to disobey the Lord. Many people must first have a storm that lays them out flat on their back before they will look up to God. "Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses. He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still" (Psalm 107: 28 & 29). We do not know the true strength of our faith until we meet with the dark stormy clouds of adversity. The eagle, the condor, the albatros and even the little dove can fly more swiftly against the wind then they can in a gentle breeze because it forces them to use more of their muscle. In the fierce winds of adversity we see Christ more clearly because it forces us to use more of our faith. God prepares good men with crosses of adversity. Ancient civilizations used an interesting little instrument called the "tribulum." It was used to beat grain to divide the chaff from the wheat. The word "tribulation" comes from this word. Tribulations certainly do separate the chaff from the wheat in the spiritual character of a man and the Bible says that we are to "Glory in our tribulations: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience and experience, Hope!" (Romans 5:3).

It is a fact that the sturdiest trees in the world are not found in the shelter and protection of the forest, but high upon a rocky hill where its daily battles with the winds and rains and storms shape it into a thing of strength. A vine will cling to an oak tree even during the fiercest storms because the storms only press it tighter and closer to the tree. Even though the storm may completely uproot the oak tree the vine still clings to it. And so it is that God sometimes allows us to be exposed to the storm, so that we will be strengthened and pressed more closely to Him.

At an evangelistic meeting in the south many years ago an elderly lady stood to give her testimony. She said "I have always been blessed by the words ‘And it came to pass." Whenever I have experienced troubles and hardships, I go to my Bible, and I never get very far before I read those words, "It came to pass." And I say ‘Praise the Lord it didn’t come to stay - it came to pass." No physician ever weighed out medicine to his patient with half as much care and exactness as God weighs out to us every trial. Not one grain too much does He ever permit to be put on the scale.

Get your Bible and go to II Corinthians 1: 3-6 and In those verses of scripture you will see two very important things: First; we are not promised that we will "avoid" the storms. The doctrine that through "faith" we will escape all tribulations in life is erroneous and destructive. It is of the False Prophet. It is contrary to the Scriptures and seeks to prevent our spiritual growth in the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because Christ does not promise that we will "avoid" the storms, He promises His comfort in the midst of the storms. Nor is it a question of "if" we encounter storms but rather "when" we encounter them. Someone has said that two things which are guaranteed in life are death and taxes. For the Christian there is also the guarantee of hardships. The Bible declares that for the true Christian sufferings will abound, but then it also declares that our consolation through Jesus Christ in the midst of those storms will also much more abound. The Bible refers to these storms that we will encounter as "the sufferings of Christ." What this means is that if we are to identify with Christ we will also identify with the sufferings of Christ. This is what Jesus meant when He said "who ever will come after Me must take up his cross to follow Me."

Second; the storms that we encounter are for the purpose of drawing us closer to Christ and equipping us to better serve Him. Our tribulations (the Bible says) are for preparing us to more ably be equipped to comfort others who are experiencing tribulations. Their "storm" may be different than ours but the comfort is the same - Jesus Christ! So not only do we see Christ better in the storms, but those storms are also a training ground for us to serve Christ. They "equip" us for the sake of the Gospel.

Have you forgotten God? Have the dark clouds rolled in with the strong winds of adversity? Do you find yourself being overtaken by the billowing waves of an overwhelming sense of emptiness that is completely dismantling piece by piece the "worldly" ship that you built for yourself? Everything may look dark, bleak, and hopeless but absolutely no one is hopeless in the hands of God. In fact, I think you will find that we always see Him better in the storms.

God bless you,
Mark Shutts

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