Stormy Weather

Jesus said to his followers, "Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?"

-- Mark 4:40

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

It's been about 2,000 years since Jesus' first disciples heard these assuring words of truth and wisdom. Isn't it remarkable that they're just as relevant to modern-day Christ-followers like you and me? Turn on the TV and surf the Web, and try to avoid the endless stories about politics, crime and unemployment. Likewise, who can avoid the unsettling sights and sounds of natural disasters and global unrest?

The point is that storms are everywhere. And there's no escape--even after we've switched off the smartphone and logged off from Facebook. For some folks, it might be a job loss or bankruptcy. For others, it's a chronic illness or the prospect of major surgery. Maybe your trouble involves family or relationship issues like a divorce or the loss of a loved one. And it raises a logical question: Does God even care about our personal hurricanes and flash floods? After all, the waters of life are choppy, and the skies are dark and threatening.

Under such gloomy circumstances, let's remember that we worship a God who's much greater than any natural disaster, economic difficulty or international dispute. Ours is a God who literally spoke the universe into creation, formed great mountain ranges with his hands and parted the seas with a breath. And with just a word, he calmed the rough waters of Lake Galilee that had threatened to drown his small band of followers. 

"Is anything too hard for the Lord?" asks the writer of Genesis, the first book of the Bible.

Let's take God at his word when he tells us that through life's turmoils, he works for the good of those who love him and have been called according to his purpose. Meanwhile, we should also remember that we're not exempt from personal storms once we turn our lives over to Jesus and become his followers. But what does change is that we gain access to a Power who helps us endure any difficulty, great or small. What's more, we become beneficiaries of an eternal inheritance that will make our current troubles fade into oblivion. The storms that seem so great today will become laughably insignificant tomorrow.

Yes, there will be times when the lightning flashes and thunder rumbles overhead. But we can rest assured that through faith in our great God, blue skies are on the horizon.