Storms come and go in that life.
usually it’s not any fun.
In fact, storms usually bring pain and suffering and loss of all kinds.
In spite of all the questions we have, there is a verse of scripture in the Bible that is the underlying foundation for, I believe.
And here’s what it says. In Psalm 10319, the lord has established his throne in the heavens and his sovereignty rules overall.
That settles a lot of questions.
The lord has established his throne in the heavens and his sovereignty, his control, always rules overall.
So he’s probably you’ve had questions sometimes when storms come your way and you think Whereas god, what are you up to in my life?
God, did you cause this? So you ask yourself the question that I caused it, Who is responsible?
Lord, you know the pain I feel. You know the loss I feel. What’s this all about?
And so there are some answers to those questions of why god does what he does.
And so I want us to look at a past year scripture, that gives us an example of pain as a result of storm.
And if you will turn to the 107th Psalm, 107th sum, and I’ll just look at this passage for a moment, because all of us have questions about storms.
things that we go through.
We’ll talk about the different kind of song shortly, but listen to this beginning in verse 23 of the 107 Psalm.
those who go down to the sea and ships who do business on great waters, talking about people, for example, who labor on the sea with cargo and so forth, they have seen the works of the lord.
Now that’s what the Psalm is called storms. Listen this, and his wonders in the deep.
For he spoke and raised up a stormy wind, in case you’re wondering where some of them come from, which lift listen to this, for he spoke and raised up a stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea.
They rose up to the heavens.
They went down to the depths, which is a beautiful way of talking about a high storm, high waves, low waves.
There’s listen. And when that happened, their soul melted away in their misery. sailors.
They reeled and staggered like a drunken man.
And with their wits in, Then scared to death. Oh, this was the end.
The Bible says they cried out to the lord, and they have trouble.
That’s always the wisest thing to do when you’re in trouble.
And he brought them out of their distresses, hallelujah, He caused the storm to be still, praise the lord so that the waves of the sea were hushed.
Then they were glad because they were quiet. So he guided them to their desired heaven.
Let them give thanks to the lord for his loving kindness and all his wonders for the sons of men.
Let them extole him also in the congregation of the people and praise him at the seat of the elders.
That is think about this. The question is, is god in storms. Is he or is he not?
He is. Well, some of you think he is. Do you think god is in the storms?
Do you think the Bible says god is in the storms? Yes.
Well, some of you are still not convinced I’ll give you to reach 3 opportunities to respond correctly Sure he’s in the storm.
Listen to know what he says.
For he spoke and raised up a stormy wind, god is in storms, not always in the same way.
All storms are not necessarily of god.
some stones we create, some stones god create, and some stones are just naturally created.
So when people say, do you think god is in these storms? You can say, yes, I do.
They say, well, how do you explain that?
Because usually, they’re thinking about somebody that’s lost their life, and they want to accuse you of being foolish by believing that a loving god would do something like that.
And so people wanna trick us as Christians and say, you folks just believe in god’s in all of this, in some way, he’s in everything.
And so I want us to look at this past subscription see what god is saying to us here.
But whatever storm comes, he’s in control.
If it’s a storm, you can you that you have creative for yourself, he’s still in control.
If it’s a storm he’s created, he’s still in control. God is not out of the storm business.
unbelievers would like for us to thank god has nothing to do with any storm.
That’s just you Christians being a little naive.
a real true god would not allow these things to happen and certainly would not allow somebody to lose their life.
Well, I’m coming to all that. So people wanna give us a very strong unbelieving answer.
We want to leave god out of anything and everything, especially if they can’t control it.
If they can’t control it, don’t let god get into this because they know they can’t control him.
So I want us to think about that. There are 3 kinds of storms.
There are those natural storms of hurricanes and floods and tornadoes and so forth that come our way or even big rainstorms.
And then there are emotional storms. And emotional storms, I believe, are far worse than the physical storms.
because it grinds at the heart, at the soul, at the verse at the verse center of your life, feeling rejected, and oftentimes being rejected by somebody or maybe some group of people, whatever it might be.
So these storms are very difficult to deal with.
Whether it’s a natural storm or an emotional storm, but most of all, what I wanna talk about is spiritual storms.
We create spiritual storms in our life by disobeying god.
When we reject him, disobey him, choose our own way, do it our own way, and our own timing, there’s a storm.
And here’s the reason for the storm. Let’s say that you’re a believer. You’ve trusted Jesus Christ as your savior.
The moment you did that, the Holy Spirit who convicted you to become a Christian ent enters your life and he is there, sent by a holy god, to live in us, to guide us, to lead us, and the Bible tells us all the works of the Holy Spirit within us.
One of those works is to convict us of sin.
So when a believer deliberately willfully sins against god, Listen, this little wind begins to be a torrential storm.
It’s a storm between you and your god.
You have chosen to be disobedient to god to walk in your own ways.
You’ve chosen to get out of his will That means you’re on your own.
That means your conduct, your conversation, your character, all changes, and you and god have a huge storm brewing in your life.
And so what do people do?
They either drink or they take a bunch of pills and especially do they always blame somebody else.
So the storms we create within ourselves are hellish thunderstorms.
because that doesn’t seem to be a very quick answer.
And especially if we think somebody else is at fault, If we can blame somebody else, the storm gets worse.
Storms are a part of life. It can be a light storm.
It can be just a temptation that you have or whatever it might be. But they come.
Either they’re instituted by god, we bring up upon ourselves, or they’re of the devil.
all kind of storms.
And so when I think about the sources of them, I think about storms that we create for ourselves.
And that’s deliberate willful disobedience to god, starts a storm. And so he said, the Holy Spirit does what?
He begins to cause us to feel afraid oftentimes, separated from god, distant from god, and our whole spiritual being gets warped.
And we don’t know where we are at times, and we are wondering and fretting and blaming and become useless and oftentimes a bad testimony.
So that that’s that’s oftentimes what happens to us.
And then when Satan creates them, and he is the instigate of a lot of storms.
So I wanna I wanna give you an example.
Uh, let me give you an example of how the devil works.
Turn to 2nd Samuel chapter 11 for a moment.
And this is a story you have either read or heard, maybe even send a movie about it.
But in the 11th chapter of 2nd Samuel, The scripture says this, beginning in verse 1.
Then it happened in the spring at a time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel, and they destroyed the sons of Amen and besieged revor, but David stayed at home in Jerusalem.
Now where should he have been? out in the war beside his valiant soldiers.
He decided to stay at home. Watch this now. You listening carefully? That’s not very good.
Are you listening to amen? When you get out of god’s will, you’re already in trouble.
Now watch what happens. He stayed at home.
Now when evening came, David arose from his bed and walked around on the roof of the king’s house, And from the roof, he saw a woman bathing, so she must have been partly naked.
And the woman was very beautiful in appearance. the storm just began.
When he looked and he kept looking, to a looked became lust and lust became a longing within him.
the next thing you know, he’s in trouble.
Satan is an originator of storms.
This is why you have to be careful what you look at, who you look at, why you look at, what you want, what you see.
And the scripture says, so David sent and inquired about the woman, He could have stopped at any time, but he didn’t.
And one said, is this not bathsheba, the daughter of Elam? The wife of you, Raab, the head tight.
He’s had their fighting for him. David sent messages and took her.
And when she came to him, he lay with her.
And when she had purified herself from her unclean as she returned to her house too late.
The woman conceived and she sent and told David and said, I’m pregnant.
Let me tell you something. Satan is the instigator of storms.
All kinds of storms. David would have told you that will never happen to him being the king.
But at the right place, let’s say this.
the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong thoughts, the wrong look, and the law and listen, and the pow watch this and the power to fulfill his lust.
He began actions that lasted him the rest of his life.
David and bathsheba. We cause our own storms.
The devil calls his storms in their life, and sometimes god sends a storm in our life.
So sometimes god sends a storm in our life to chastise us to do what, and he certainly sent one into David’s life.
to chastise us, to get our attention, and to get our protection unless we absolutely destroy ourselves.
God does send storms into our life. You know what? Because he loves us. He never sends one.
that is not backed by love ultimately.
So when you think about the storms in your life, let’s think about why he allows them.
And I think the first reason is because it takes a storm sometime to get our attention.
God may knock on your heart’s door.
He may bring something to your attention and your prayer. He may try to get your attention.
And so you don’t pay any attention to it. And, um, oftentimes, he has to act beyond that.
So one of his primary purposes One of the things he does, he sends a storm in better life.
God allows storms to get our attention. Listen to this because he loves us.
Have I always done everything god said? No. Have I gotten it approved for it? Yes. I have.
Because god, listen to this. You’re listening to Amen. God does not play favorites.
It doesn’t play favorites. We disobeyed.
We can expect the results of disobedience from a loving god. That’s where he operates.
So he gets their attention. Therefore, he wants to prevent us from destroying ourselves or somebody else are causing more trouble.
A second reason he sends storms into our life is, uh, to get us to repent.
And I think about The best example of that is the book of Joma. So look at this.
God called him, and he left his home. Left god. Eleanor ship is gonna leave god.
When asleep, gonna leave god. Storm comes, Finally asked to confess up. It’s my fault.
God hadn’t left him. Let me tell you something.
You can’t get any further away from god than Jonah did, no matter who you are, what you believe, what you think, what you don’t believe, you cannot run from eternal god because every single place question is in the presence of god.
And I think some people who say, well, I just don’t believe in it.
Listen, that doesn’t mean because you don’t believe in it that you’ve eliminated god.
You haven’t changed one verse of scripture, but not believing in god.
But what I want you to see is your belief does not watch this.
Your belief does not affect whether god does or does not send judgment upon you for disobeying him and living in sin.
Jordan knew he was living in sin.
He tried his very best cost him a lot of money to take that trip.
And so what happens, he’s in the bill of a whale.
And then what happens I love this story. It’s a simple story.
The whale vomited him up, and the scripture says he went to Nunavah in preached the word of god.
They had a bigger revival and god saved them in the vice. And then look at this.
Jonas’s attitude still wasn’t right. because god had god had to chastise him after this because I think about what he was what he was arguing about was they they they were getting right with the god, and he didn’t like that.
Can you imagine being so messed up in your life to be obedient to god And then you didn’t like the result because it wasn’t what you wanted.
People get into all kinds of trouble because they don’t wanna obey almighty god.
And so sometimes a storm brings us to repentance.
If you and I knew how many people come to god as a result of a storm in our life in their life, we would be shocked probably.
How many times have I heard testimonies?
Well, I just didn’t have time for god, and then nothing so happened.
found out that I had cancer or found out that my son and my daughter had it or, um, had a wreck or lost their life.
In other words, whatever it takes, let me just put it this way. God loves you enough.
the send a storm that is very, very painful, if necessary, in order to get our attention, in order to help us to come to him and be obedient to him.
So a third reason he allows storms is to conform us to his image.
that is god god wants to do whatever. And and whatever is brokenness.
In other words, god is willing to break us and cause self and heartache and pain in their life to bring us to himself.
There are people on the mission field, people preaching in the gospel preaching the gospel every Sunday today all over the world who came to the lord as a result of brokenness.
Running from god And how many times have I heard testimonies from pastors who did not wanna preach, who absolutely refused the call of god, and then god brought up enough storm in their life they did surrender to him.
So god is in storms for purposes that are for his glory.
Then, of course, he wants to equip us for his service.
And sometimes we go through hurt and suffering and pain in order to be equipped to do what god calls us to do.
And I think they’re probably nurses and doctors and passes and many other people that are doing what they’re doing in a way that blesses others are helpful to others as a result of god bringing them through brokenness.
Brokenness says, I can’t stand any more of this pain. God, whatever you want. The answer is yes.
And the truth is that’s where he wants all of us at some point in our life so he can use this to the maximum of our potential.
Then sometimes he wants to demonstrate his power in our life. In other words, we we are saved.
We know we are But god wants he wants to bring us to himself in such a way that we understand who he is and what he’s doing.
And sometimes he lets us suffer a while.
and then brings forth healing, whatever it might be, but he gives us enough to let us hurt a while until we are finally willing to say yes, lord.
And oftentimes, it’s at the end of that.
that he begins to use a person in their life like they’ve never been used before.
I don’t mean that’s just sort of preaching the gospel, but to use you as a witness wherever you work, wherever you live, whoever you live with, whatever it might be.
God has a purpose in allowing the storms in our life, whatever they may be.
And naturally, one of them is to reveal himself to us.
I can think about times in my life when I’ve been through storms, and seeking the lord and asking god to show me this or whatever it might be, that I get a new glimpse, a little different glimpse, a different perspective on how god thinks about things.
And one thing about living a pretty good while, you learn things by experience you don’t learn early in life.
And so sometimes he wants to reveal himself to us and give us understanding of who he is.
god knows how to take storms in their life and do something good for us if we’re willing to listen to him and willing not to give up and not to criticize him and blame god.
When you start blaming god, here’s what happens. You separate yourself from him emotionally and spiritually.
Not that he leaves you, but if you blame god, you withdraw yourself from the very source of the one who loves you, who provides for you, who will save you in this storm, who will strengthen you, who will make you a better person.
You don’t withdraw from god in the storm.
And I think all of us who’ve been through difficult times when we look back and see what god did, not what we did.
And that’s somebody else did, but what god did in our life and how he brought us through it, because god is a loving god.
And just because it does a storm in your life doesn’t mean that god has deserted you.
It doesn’t mean that god is punishing you. it means that he has something in mind.
Whatever the reason, watch this. Whatever the reason is, god’s purpose is always for our good, always to do something in our behalf that makes us a better person brings us close to him, demonstrates his power, shows his love for us.
So storms have a purpose from god’s perspective, and some of the worst storms very evident that god is in them because of the results of what happens.
Then somebody says, well, let’s hard me to believe that god demonstrates his love in the storm.
So I want you to turn to, uh, the 55th chapter. of Isaiah.
Because there’s sometimes people say, well, if god was a god of love, he would never let this happen.
the 55th chapter of Isaiah and the 8th verse.
for my thoughts and not your thoughts. That is I don’t think what you do.
No, are my ways your ways? We we don’t act the same. declares the lord. For us, watch this.
For us, the heavens are higher than the earth. So are my ways higher than your ways?
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
For as the rain and snow come down from heaven and do not return there with without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout and furnishing seed to the soul and bread to the eda.
So will my word be which goes forth from my mouth.
It will not return to me empty without accomplishing what I desire.
and without it succeeding in the manner for which I sent it.
And so god is in the midst of the storm, what whatever is going on.
And when he comes to why certain things happen, Isaiah 55 is a very simple, a profound answer from the word of god.
So he demonstrates his love even in difficult times.
And then I think one of the primary reasons is this. He reminds us of who is in control.
God is in control. And I’m simply saying he doesn’t make mistakes.
It isn’t because god doesn’t love us.
It isn’t because He thinks that we don’t deserve better.
In other words, god allows them for a purpose.
You say, well, what’s the purpose about this, that now don’t claim to have that kind of knowledge, nobody does, but god.
But listen, when you’re a believer following the lord, nothing happens in your life without god’s permissive will and always with a purpose to strengthen us that bless us, to prepare us, to equip us, to express love toward us, whatever it might be, God always has a loving motive in mind.
So That’s a very simple message.
I want it to be simple because the next time somebody says, you know, if god is a god of love, and you can say to them, yes, he is.
He loves you enough that you could wake up this morning.
And so oftentimes, people who judge god, they don’t know him.
And you as a believer, as long as you understand, who god is and how he operates.
That’s what matters. Amen?
And, father, we just ask you this morning, for storms that have come, for storms that will come.
That you remind us that you’re in complete control and that we can trust you.
that we can believe that you always have our best interests at heart.
Show us how to love and to be willing to understand people who don’t understand you.
And we pray that people are being saved and lives are being changed and the people are turning to you who would not otherwise.
You’ve got their attention. Thank you for loving us and being patient with us.
and we pray this in Jesus’ name.
Amen.