There’s a reason trials and tragedies are labeled “the storms of life.” Facing physical illness or spiritual dryness causes hurt to hit new heights in our minds and hearts. Our “fight or flight” response goes into overdrive, causing us to make desperate decisions. Alternatively, we might freeze, paralyzed from fear.
Facing challenges is never easy, especially when our spiritual reserves are running on fumes. Regardless of the storm, God doesn’t want us living anxiously on spiritual pins and needles. Instead, He wants us to be secure and know that it will be well, and it is well, because He is with us.
Tempest
A tempest is a violent storm, often accompanied by hail, high winds, or pelting rain. Tempests rage with lots of noise and show, but afterwards, a soft calm permeates the atmosphere. So too, are the battles that head our way.
Anger echoes in fits of thunder, fear spirals in streaks of lightning, and depression suffocates our souls like whipping wind. But God’s voice whispers in the stillness.
Horatio Spafford, who penned the words to the hymn “It Is Well with My Soul,” could relate. This song, explaining the goodness of God amidst sorrow, came out of tragedy. Horatio wrote the lyrics following the Great Chicago Fire’s destruction of his livelihood and the loss of his daughters in a shipwreck. Even through such heartbreak, he discovered this truth: God is bigger than any storm.
Similarly, the song “What A Friend” by Benjamin William Hastings lyrically displays how God befriends us. He writes, “Every high or every low, should waves arise, or when the sea billows roll. I have a friend, so no matter what life throws: it is well, it is well, it is well with my soul.”
Jesus is the friend every heart needs.
Rest means welcoming stillness with radical purpose.
Psalm 46:10
When the wind of trial whips against our souls, it’s hard to remember the truth. God reminds us in Psalm 46:10 [NIV] to “Be still and know that I am God,” but this concept is contrary to our instincts.
Rather, we want to rush, run, or recoil into our hearts. We rush to others for advice or to fix what we think we can control. We run away from our problems and pretend they don’t exist. Or, to recoil, we take steps to numb the pain altogether until we can’t feel our vulnerability.
All these reactions are normal, human responses to pain. But perhaps resting in His grace and goodness requires just as much strength as rushing, running, or recoiling.
Rest means welcoming stillness with radical purpose. God wants us to rest, not because He wants to control us, but because He wants us to leave the control to Him. When we choose peace and let Him take over, we relinquish our claim to run ragged.
We can rest by:
- Learning new ways to embrace worship
- Recognizing our limits and taking steps to eliminate “busyness”
- Cultivating time for restorative practices
- Sitting and soaking in Scripture
- Confiding in the community God has placed in your life, and more
God doesn’t want us living on spiritual pins and needles. Instead, He wants us to be secure and know that it will be well, and it is well, because He is with us.
Jesus calms the storm
The storm on the sea of Galilee, while physical, was very similar to the storms we face in our lives today. To our natural eyes, they look deadly. Even more dangerous are the lies of loneliness.
These lies are the little whispers in the back of your mind or the stinging words from another individual fighting their own battle. They say, “You’re alone in this. You’re not going to measure up. You won’t survive.”
But to Jesus, who is the storm-calming, sea-walking, heart-mending Savior, storms are only a moment to be supported with His stillness.
Jesus’ words bring fresh wind to our hearts. He combats the lies of the enemy and says “You’re with me in this. You don’t need to measure up, because I already did. You’ll thrive because of my finished work at the cross.”
Steadfast faith doesn’t mean we never waver. It means remembering that by embracing stillness, we become warriors in the wilderness. It means we’re faith fighters, born from the scars that struck the side of our Savior.
Today, rest knowing that He’s overcome your situation. He holds your hand in every battle. He’s in it with you, now and forever. He fights for you, with you, and through the biblical community around you. You’re going to make it, and His love is waiting to welcome you on the other side.
