Storms don't last forever

One day about 15 years ago my husband said something that I've always kept close to my heart since he said it. We were young twenty somethings, looking up at the sky, it was cloudy and he said when you see grey clouds remember that they will always pass and reveal the blue sky. 

Since that day, that message has always stuck with me and helped me get through some really tough times. When I wasn't a Christian this sentence was like a mantra to me to help me to keep pushing through the hard times, in the hope that I would get to see the metaphorical blue sky again. 

There have been times when in the midst of loss, uncertainty and other traumatic times. I've looked up at the sky seeing the clouds slowly move and really wished the clouds in my life would move as fast. 

Even since I've given my life to Christ, I still remember this message to remind myself that the current "grey cloud" over my life, at that particular time, that causes me stress will be moved by the wind at some point. Now I’ve found God, the only difference is now after thinking this, I usually fall to my knees and pray to God the Father, in Jesus’ name, and ask that He takes the stress, the uncertainty, the physical pain or the emotional hurt away. In the midst of agony, when nothing else has worked, the only thing we can do is lie down on the floor and plead to God. 

Quick storm or a long harsh winter

When I think about my husband’s cloud message to me, two stories in the Bible come to mind. They make me think about how God decides some storms should last longer than others. 

The first one is when Jesus calmed the storm. Jesus and his disciples set out in a boat to cross a lake. While on the boat Jesus decided to take a nap. While Jesus was sleeping a violent storm started over the lake and the boat started filling with water. The disciples thought they were going to die and were petrified. They immediately went to the person who they went to whenever they were scared. They went to Jesus. They woke Jesus and asked Him to save them. Jesus asked them why they were so afraid and told them they had little faith. He then stopped the storm and all was calm again.

Jesus ended the storm almost immediately when he was asked but He did tell the disciples that they had little faith. By saying this Jesus was saying that they lacked trust in Him, even though they saw Him perform lots of miracles. They forgot to keep faith during chaos. They focused on the chaotic storm rather than them being in the presence of God the Son. In that moment, they lacked faith that with Jesus by their side they could get through the storm because all storms have to end at some point. 

“The disciples were amazed. “Who is this man?” they asked. “Even the winds and waves obey him!”” - Matthew 8:27

Jesus ended the storm not because He needed to but because He wanted to. He could’ve easily got them all safely to the other side of the lake during the storm, with water filling the boat. He ended the storm to remind the disciples that He has the power to control the waves and seas and eventually end the storm they were in. Therefore, renewing their faith that Jesus can get them through further storms by focusing on Him and not the storm. 

“Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see” - Hebrews 11:1

The second example is when God doesn’t end the storm immediately. He can actually make someone's stormy season worse before it gets better. This is Jonah and the sailors’ story.

God gave Jonah an assignment to complete. He had to travel to Nineveh and give the people who live there a message. Jonah didn’t want to do this so he tried to run away. When you think about it, this was a dumb move on Jonah’s part because you can’t run away from God! He will always know exactly where you are! Anyway Jonah ended up on a ship and while the ship was at sea. It got caught up in a horrible strong storm. The sailors were scared for their lives and started calling out to their gods to calm the storm. However, that obviously didn’t work. 

Jonah knew they were all in the storm because he didn’t follow God’s instructions. Jonah knew that if they threw him overboard that the storm would stop, so he told the sailors to do this. They refused because they didn’t want to kill him, so they continued to steer the ship. At this point the storm got worse and the sailors could no longer control the ship. They were really scared so they prayed to Jonah’s God, the one true God and asked Him to spare their lives for what Jonah did, then they threw Jonah overboard as he had originally requested. Guess what happened for the sailors? The storm stopped immediately. God stopped it because they humbled themselves to Jonah’s God and they had faith that this God, the one true God, had the power to stop the storm when their gods couldn’t.

However, for Jonah the stormy season in his life got worse. After he was thrown overboard and the storm stopped, he was swallowed by a giant fish. For three days and three nights he was in the belly of this fish. Now some theologians say that Jonah had a near death experience when he was thrown into the stormy sea and swallowed by the big fish. As a result Jonah described being in the fish to like being in Sheol. Sheol is the dark, shadowy land of the dead. Other theologians say that Jonah literally died in the sea, went to the land of the dead but God brought Him back to life in the belly of the fish.

Whichever version you agree with doesn’t take away from the fact that when Jonah was in the even more stormy time of his life, in the belly of the fish for days, he realised that there was only one thing left to do. That was to pray to God because trying to rely on his own wisdom and strength, or focusing on a solution to stop the storm in his life hadn’t worked so far. 

So in the middle of the scariest time of his life, he prayed to God. He didn’t beg for God to get him out of the fish. Instead Jonah acknowledged God’s presence in his life and importantly God’s presence during this particular stormy hard period of his life. He didn’t blame God for the storm. Actually he thanked God for answering him when he cried for help and for listening to him. Jonah didn’t pray this once all his troubles were over, no he was thanking God and acknowledging His presence while he was still in the belly of the fish with no way out. 

“I cried out to the Lord in my great trouble, and he answered me. I called to you from the land of the dead, and Lord, you heard me!” - Jonah 2:2

Jonah ended his prayer with “Salvation comes from the Lord alone” (Jonah 2:9). Jonah realised that he couldn’t save himself from this fish or be the saviour of his own life in general. He accepted and truly believed that it came from God alone. So, rather than focusing solely on the non-stop troubles and trials which were only getting worse, Jonah focused on God instead. Once Jonah surrendered himself to the Lord, in the middle of his personal stormy season, what did God do? He made the fish spit Jonah out. God finally ended Jonah’s “storm”. It didn’t end at a time set by Jonah but his stormy season did eventually end because no storm lasts forever.

During my Christian journey I have found God does two things, He either removes the storm pretty quickly like He did with the disciples on the lake, or He makes me wait under the storm clouds for a while longer, like He did with Jonah. For me this has sometimes been months of waiting for the clouds/chaos to pass or sometimes years. However, no matter how long the wait God always eases the storm in my life at some point. He also lets me know that He is with me during the storms, either fighting my battles, keeping me safe or giving me inner peace. Sometimes it’s all three at once!

Resilience 

Sometimes God puts us through these storms to build our resilience for our next assignment. God knows what He has planned for us in our lives. Every assignment that God gives us is more important or complex than the last. God can’t risk us messing it up by not being prepared because there is more at stake for His Kingdom. Therefore, we may go through hard times of dealing with mean people, so we aren’t thrown and distracted when we meet someone with similar traits on the next assignment God has us on. 

God might put us through a period of financial insecurity, so we become better at budgeting and believing that God won’t leave you without. Therefore we aren’t swayed into taking an opportunity that isn’t what God wants for us because we gave into the temptation of the money attached to it. 

Sometimes we go through betrayal so we know how to spot the signs in the future and we don’t let it happen again and derail future God given assignments. 

“The Lord of Heaven’s Armies has spoken - who can change his plans? When his hand is raised, who can stop him?” - Isaiah 14:27

Help others

Also, God can use what was meant to break you to help others in a similar situation. So who knows, in the future you could be helping others through the hard times and trauma that you have also experienced.

My storm won’t end

“For all these things I weep; tears flow down my cheeks. No one is here to comfort me; any who might encourage me are far away” - Lamentations 1:16

Now you might be reading this and thinking the storm is never going to end for me because you have a chronic or terminal illness, or everyday you wake up and remember my loved one is dead, so you believe that God can’t or won’t stop this storm. Well if you think this and you believe there is a God, which I’m assuming you do because you are admitting that there is a God who can’t or won’t stop bad things happening. Then know that Jesus never promised an easy life for his followers. In fact he promised suffering on Earth because Jesus is the truth and light and the rest of the world hates the truth and wants to live in darkness. 

However, He also promises eternal life, love and inner peace. Therefore, God the Father will give all, who believe in Christ, inner peace and contentment and God’s love while they are on Earth. He will also give them eternal life in heaven and on the renewed Earth. So as Christians we are all going to glory at some stage because we will all die. 

If a Christian, dies younger than they or others imagined, then that means they went to glory earlier than us humans planned. Remember we can make plans but God determines our steps (Proverbs 16:9). The storm of dying ended for them when they died and yes it hurts for the ones left behind, there is no denying that. However, the thing is it’s never about us, it’s always about God and if God called them home to glory with the Lord, for whatever reason, then that was the decision, even if we will never fully understand it.

“Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord” - 2 Corinthians 5:8

We can learn to live without loved ones, who have died, through grief support groups, therapy and definitely through time. This is part of the storm passing. We never forget them, we never stop missing them, we just learn to live without them.  However, if you stick to your faith in Christ, then the storm will fully end when you are all reunited in glory, at a time that only God decides for you and also on the renewed earth, when Christ returns.

“He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever” - Revelation 21:4 

The weapons won’t succeed 

You could be going through your own personal storm because life is one big uncertainty. It could be that you don't know how you are going to pay the bills that are due next week. It could be that you don't know if you will have a job in six months time. It could be that you’ve just got a diagnosis. It could be that you wish that person was still in your life. It could be that people are suddenly turning against you and you don't know why but all you know is that it hurts. It could be that you are there for everyone but no one truly sees you and when you really need someone no one comes through. It could be that you are being bullied or ostracised by those toxic colleagues, to the point that when open your eyes you feel secretly slightly annoyed that you’ve actually woken up and have to face another work day (this is sadly a reality for some people).

Whatever reason you have for your stormy season, with the dark clouds over you. Just remember that God said, for those who believe in Him, that the weapons will be formed but they won’t prosper. Finally, always remember that storms don’t last forever.

“No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgement You shall condemn” - Isaiah 54:17