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Overcoming The Storms of Life
Bo Weaver at The Bridge in Wilder, KY
Sunday February 22, 2015
I want to talk today about Overcoming the Storms of Life.
All of us face storms, don’t we?
I wish that wasn’t the case.
I wish life could be an endless string of wonderful days where each day is better than the day before.
But such is not the case – at least not as long as we live in
this world.
We can do all we can to safeguard ourselves against storms
– but storms are going to hit.
I found an article titled: Honeymoon from Hell
Newlyweds Endure Snowstorm, Flood, and Earthquake
Every marriage has its share of trials and troubles. But
imagine going off on your honeymoon and getting victimized
by six natural disasters!
That's what happened to newlyweds Stefan and Erika
Svanstrom when they left Stockholm, Sweden, for their
four-month honeymoon in December 2010.
First, they were stranded in Munich, Germany, when Europe
was hit by one of its worst snowstorms.
Then the couple went to Australia.
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In the city of Cairns, they were struck by one of the most
ferocious cyclones in Australia's history.
They headed south to Brisbane but discovered that the city
had experienced massive flooding.
So they traveled across the country to Perth. There, they
narrowly escaped raging bush fires.
Next, the couple flew to Christchurch, New Zealand.
Unfortunately, they arrived just after the city was
devastated by a magnitude 6.3 earthquake.
Later on, the couple went to Japan.
But a few days after their arrival, Tokyo was rocked by
Japan's largest earthquake on record.
The family returned to Stockholm on March 29, 2011, after a
much calmer visit to their last destination, China.
Looking back on the trip, Mrs. Svanstrom said: "To say we
were unlucky with the weather doesn't really cover it! It's so
absurd that now we can only laugh."
But Mr. Svanstrom noted that the marriage was still going
strong. He said, "We've certainly experienced more than our
fair share of catastrophes, but the most important thing is
that we're together and happy."
The Telegraph, "Swedish couple have honeymoon from hell"
4-6-11
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Illus. I have pastor friends, Jerry & Denise Douglas that
live on the Caribbean island of Grenada.
Most of the time Grenada is a very pleasant place to live,
something of a tropical paradise.
But on September 7, 2004 the island was hit by
hurricane Ivan, the most destructive hurricane in that
nation’s history.
According to a member of the Grenadian parliament, at least
85% of the small island was devastated.
In all, damage on the island totalled US$815 million
(2004 USD, $1.02 billion 2015 USD).
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Knowing that it would be weeks, if not months before
power would be restored, Jerry and Denise accepted
an invitation to come and stay with friends in Florida
in order to get away from the devastation and to
recover from the trauma of having lived through that
terrible storm.
They arrived at their friend’s home in Florida just in time to
be greeted by hurricane Jeanne as it slammed the coast
near where they were staying.
Two hurricanes in one week, life can be like that sometimes.
We can plan and prepare, do all we know to do to protect
ourselves from the storms of life, but they are going to come
just the same.
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We may not be able to prevent all the storms of life, but we
don’t have to fear them.
Jesus said:
“In the world you will have tribulation”
- John 16:33a
But he followed that statement by saying:
“… be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
- John 16:33b
Jesus said, “Tribulation is inevitable – but defeat is
not.”
“Tough times may come – but we need not fear
them.”
While it is true that no rational thinking person enjoys
tribulation – haven’t you found that you learn more
through the tough times of life than through the easy
times?
It’s true.
We learn more by going through the storms of life
than when everything is wonderful.
How many of you don’t care how much you learn in the
tough times – you still prefer the easy times.
But it is true.
We learn the most about ourselves and about God during
the storms of life.
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It is when we face adversity that we develop our faith
muscles.
It is when we are in situations that are bigger than us that
we learn to rely upon the Lord – and find Him faithful.
Illus. A little boy was watching a butterfly struggling
to emerge from its cocoon, when he decided to get a
pair of tweezers and offer some assistance.
He was careful to avoid touching the delicate butterfly as he
helped pull open the cocoon so the little guy would not have
to struggle so much.
With the little boy’s help the butterfly was out of the cocoon
in under a minute.
But once outside the cocoon, the butterfly soon collapsed
and died.
The little boy told his father what had just happened and the
father said:
“Son, I know you meant to help the butterfly, but
what you didn’t know is that the struggle to get out of
the cocoon is what helps the butterfly develop the
strength to survive.”
God knows that it is the struggles of life that help us develop
the strength, the faith and the perseverance to survive in
this world.
And so, it is for our own good that God allows things into our
lives that we would not choose, but that cause us to grow
stronger.
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I don’t believe this means that God is the cause
behind every negative event.
God is not the author of evil.
God has given mankind the ability to make choices, and
many choices people make are anything but godly.
That’s why I don’t blame God for what people do.
But God can take even those evil things that people, or the
Devil himself means for our harm – and work them together
for good – as we learn to trust our Heavenly Father in the
midst of the storm.
Now sometimes our hardships are of our own making –
due to our own sinful rebellion or sometimes owing to our
own stupidity.
We can’t blame God for dumb things we do – but even when
we find ourselves in difficult situations of our own making –
we can still call on God for help and learn valuable lessons
through the situation.
If you get stuck in a snow bank on the way home from
church – you might be tempted to blame God.
But God didn’t make you get out and drive in the snow
today, did He?
No, it’s because you have a stubborn pastor who refuses to
cancel church that you are out on a day like this.
But even if you do get stuck in a snow bank, you can still
call on the Lord.
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To consider how to Face the Storms of Life, I would like for
us to look at a very famous storm that is recorded in
Mark’s Gospel, chapter four.
Mark 4
On the same day, when evening had come, He said
to them, “Let us cross over to the other side.” 36 Now
when they had left the multitude, they took Him along
in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also
with Him.
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And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat
into the boat, so that it was already filling. 38 But He
was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke
Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we
are perishing?”
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Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the
sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there
was a great calm. 40 But He said to them, “Why are you
so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” 41 And
they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who
can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!”
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Now, if we were to look at the entire chapter where this
event occurs, we would find that just before getting into the
boat, Jesus has just concluded teaching the multitudes
many important kingdom truths – and then they get into
a boat and are immediately hit with a storm.
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Things to remember when facing storms
1. Storms come to steal the Word
So many times after you hear a message that illuminates
some truth, you get hit in that very area so as to steal from
your heart what you have heard.
Satan does everything he can to cause us to doubt the
things we read or hear in God’s Word.
Jesus had just finished teaching the parable of the sower
where spoke of this very thing:
Mark 4
The sower sows the word. 15 And these are the ones
by the wayside where the word is sown. When they
hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the
word that was sown in their hearts.
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These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground
who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it
with gladness; 17 and they have no root in themselves,
and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when
tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake,
immediately they stumble.
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The Devil is a thief who comes to steal, kill and destroy.
He wants to steal from your heart the Word of God that is
sown.
After great revelation – comes great testing.
He wants to kill and destroy our faith in God’s Word - if he
can.
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That is his purpose in sending storms our way.
Illus. Sitting on a Cat
I remember when I was a brand new Christian and
was excited about growing in my knowledge of the
Lord and of His Word and was attending a Bible study
on Monday nights.
Each week my heart thrilled as we read and discussed a
chapter of the book of Acts and saw what God did through
those early disciples as they went out preaching the Word.
I remember leaving that Bible study one night and going out
to get in my car – I was just filled with so much joy and
excitement about my new life in Christ and getting to take
the good news of Jesus to others.
I mean I was just flying high spiritually.
Well, I opened the door of my ’69 Chevy Impala and sat
down behind the wheel, when suddenly it felt like I had just
sat on a balloon.
What I didn’t know was that while I was in the Bible study a
cat had jumped in my open car window and decided to take
a nap in the driver’s seat.
Suddenly this cat that I had just sat on was scratching and
clawing and scrambling to get out from under me and out of
my car.
Somehow it squirmed out from under me and jumped out
the window, but by the time it did I was almost in cardiac
arrest.
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I mean this all happened so fast – and I didn’t know what it
was – that by the time I figured out what had just taken
place my heart was going about 100 MPH.
In an instant all the joy and excitement over what we had
been talking about in Bible study that night was completely
gone out of my mind.
That quick I went from a spiritual high to near heart attack.
Looking back now I don’t know whether to attribute that to a
spiritual attack from the evil one, or not, but it sure felt like
one at the time.
With my heart still pounding I went down the road rebuking
the Devil all the way home.
Attacks against us are not always that immediate upon
hearing the Word of God – and often not so humorous.
Sometimes, as in the case of the disciples in the sinking
boat, the attacks are much more serious, even life
threatening.
But in either case, Satan’s intentions are the same – to steal
the Word of God from our hearts.
We really do have an enemy that wages war against our
faith.
It helps to understand that the war is almost always against
the truth of God’s Word that has been sown in our hearts.
Satan wants to shake our confidence in God’s Word.
We hear a message about peace – and the Devil comes and
attacks our peace.
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He tries to make us fearful about the economy, or about
rumored lay-offs at work, or about our job being shipped
overseas.
These are real things – but the promises of God’s Word
remain true.
His promises to meet our needs remain constant.
The storms of life almost always come as a direct attack on
the Word of God sown in our hearts.
What had Jesus said to the disciples after He had concluded
His teaching?
“Let us cross over to the other side.”
- Mark 4:35
And what did the Devil try to cause the disciples to doubt
what was going to happen?
- That they would make it to the other side.
The storms of life come to steal the Word of God sown in our
hearts.
When the storms of life come, resolve to stand fast on the
Word of God and not let the Devil steal His Word from our
hearts.
Illus. When we were in the planning stages of starting
this church you better believe the Devil was
whispering in my ear:
“You’ll never find a place to hold services.”
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When I stopped in at the Marquises I was told by the person
I spoke with: “You can ask the owner, but he has turned
down three or four churches who have asked to rent our
facilities for church services.”
That wasn’t the encouragement I was looking for.
But along with that piece of information, I learned that the
reason they had turned the other churches down is because
they found it hard to hire help to either stay extra late on
Saturday night or come in super early on Sunday morning to
clean the place up.
Armed with this bit of information, when I spoke to the
owner I told him that we would be happy to clean the place
ourselves.
Now he didn’t have a reason to say no, so he said, yes.
My point is this, every step forward we take in life
requires faith and faith is really only required when
we are tempted to fear.
With waves crashing down on them and the boat rapidly
filling with water, the disciples were certainly tempted to
fear.
But in the face of fear God asks us to exercise faith.
The reason we can have faith in the midst of the storms of
life is because God’s Word is true and can be trusted.
Don’t let the storms of life steal God’s Word from your heart.
The second thing I want to encourage you to remember
when facing the storms of life.
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2. Storms teach us that Jesus is greater than
anything we will ever face
By this time the disciples had seen Jesus turn water into
wine, multiply the loaves and fishes to feed the multitudes,
heal all kinds of diseases and cast out enumerable demons
Why did they doubt that He would not deliver them now?
Maybe it was because Jesus did all those things for other
people – not for them personally.
Perhaps that’s the lesson Jesus wanted them to learn – that
what He had done for others, He would do for them.
And how else can we know that God will come through for
us unless we are faced with a challenge?
It is when we are tested by the storms of life that we
learn that God cares – for us.
Illus. First semester of Bible College.
I was paying my school bill by the month.
Car caught on fire.
Not making enough money.
In the first semester of school I got about $300 behind in
my school bill.
I became filled with fear and anxiety.
A teacher by the name of Campbell McAlpine came and
taught us how to meditate on the Scriptures.
He chose the most unlikely verse to have us ponder.
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Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the
son of Amittai, saying…
- Jonah 1:1
“Why do you think I said, ‘Jonah the son of Amittai?’”
“I don’t know, Lord.”
“It is because I knew who Jonah was.”
“I knew who his father was.”
“I know who you are.”
“I know you are the son of Gene Weaver.”
“I know your needs.”
“If I know your needs, don’t you think I’m going to meet
those needs?”
All of a sudden all doubt just drained out of me and I was
filled with a confidence and an assurance that somehow God
would meet my needs.
It was as if I suddenly knew that it was no longer my
concern.
I couldn’t worry about it.
Over the next several days I received two checks in the mail
from unexpected sources and got a better job – a job that
supported me all the way through Bible College.
I discovered – in the midst of the storm that not only was
Jesus in my boat – but that He cared for me.
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It is only be facing the storms of life that we discover that
God really cares about us.
He is not just there for everybody else.
He’s there for me!
He’s there for you!
After Jesus rebuked the wind and the waves, the disciples
said,
“Who can this be that even the wind and the
waves obey Him?”
The disciples had a greater revelation for having been
through the storm.
It always works that way.
We know God at a deeper level after having been through
the storms of life and seeing His faithfulness.
Illus. I remember when we were in the midst of a
major building project at FOB when as the project was
nearing completion we discovered that we were going
to be short about $300,000.
$300,000 may not be a lot of money to you – but $300,000
is a lot of money to me.
Shortly after sharing this need with the elders – someone
came to me and said, “I’m going to be receiving some stock
from my company and I want to tithe on it as soon as I get
it.”
“The tithe on that stock will take care of the need.”
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And it did.
How many of you know I found out Jesus was in my boat
with me – and that He cared for me!
Jesus is in your boat, too, and He cares for you – but you
won’t know it until the storm hit.
It wasn’t until after the storm hit and Jesus came to their aid
that the disciples knew – really knew that Jesus cared for
them.
I want to encourage you – when the storms of life hit,
don’t bother asking “Why?”
Instead ask, “What?”
“What is the lesson you want me to learn here, Lord?”
Usually, the answer to that question is, “I want you to
learn to trust Me.”
Sometimes there other lessons to learn, but that is usually
the big one.
“Will you trust Me?”
In the years that followed the death, resurrection and
ascension of Jesus, when the disciples were out going all
over the world with the gospel, I wonder how many times
their lives were on the line – how many times they faced
danger – how many times they thought, “well, Lord, if you
don’t come through I’m a goner.”
But then their minds would go back to this night on the Sea
of Galilee when they thought they were going to drown.
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“Lord, I thought I was a goner then – but then you stood up
and rebuked the wind and the waves and the wind and the
waves obeyed – and we didn’t die.”
“And you said, ‘Why are you so fearful? How is it that
you have no faith?’”
Lord, I guess I’m immortal until You say it’s time for me to
leave this earth – so Lord, here I am, I’m in Your hands.
And time after time when they faced certain death, the
disciples would find themselves delivered from danger –
until the time came that their work in this world was done.
And when that time came I’m sure they faced death without
fear – because when you have learned to trust Jesus in life –
you can trust Him in death.
So, my fellow disciples don’t despair when the storms of life
come your way, you belong to Jesus and He is in the boat
with you – and He cares for you.
3. Storms teach us not to give up
I had a football coach who used to say; “We never lose,
we just run out of time.”
By taking that attitude we never gave up – no matter what
the score might have been.
We could be down by three touchdowns in the fourth
quarter, but we played as if the game was tied.
We ran out of time seven out of ten games that season, but
we never game up!
That’s that attitude I believe God wants us to have with
regard to storms, or trials in our life.
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We don’t quit – no matter what.
We don’t give up.
We may die, but we never quit.
Missionary's Efforts Bear Fruit 150 Years Later
The American missionary Adoniram Judson arrived in
Burma, or Myanmar, in 1812, and died there thirty-eight
years later in 1850.
During that time, he suffered much for the cause of the
gospel. He was imprisoned, tortured, and kept in shackles.
After the death of his first wife, Ann, to whom he was
devoted, for several months he was so depressed that he sat
daily beside her tomb.
Three years later, he wrote: God is to me the Great
Unknown. I believe in him, but I cannot find him.
But Adoniram's faith sustained him, and he threw himself
into the tasks to which he believed God had called him. He
worked feverishly on his translation of the Bible. The New
Testament had now been printed, and he finished the Old
Testament in early 1834.
Statistics are unclear, but there were only somewhere
between twelve and twenty-five professing Christians in the
country when he died, and there were not churches to speak
of.
At the 150th anniversary of the translation of the Bible into
the Burmese language, Paul Borthwick was addressing a
group that was celebrating Judson's work.
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Just before he got up to speak, he noticed in small print on
the first page the words: "Translated by Rev. A. Judson."
So Borthwick turned to his interpreter, a Burmese man
named Matthew Hia Win, and asked him, "Matthew, what
do you know of this man?"
Matthew began to weep as he said,
“We know him—we know how he loved the Burmese
people, how he suffered for the gospel because of us,
out of love for us. He died a pauper, but left the Bible
for us. When he died, there were few believers, but
today there are over 600,000 of us, and every single
one of us traces our spiritual heritage to one man: the
Rev. Adoniram Judson.”
But Adoniram Judson never saw it!
And that will be the case for some of us. We may be called
to invest our lives in ministries for which we do not see
much immediate fruit, trusting that the God of all grace who
oversees our work will ensure that our labor is not in vain.
Adapted from Julia Cameron, editor, Christ Our Reconciler
(InterVarsity Press, 2012), pp. 200-201
Don’t quit – no matter what.
Illus. My teacher John Garlock tells of a time when we was
well into his seventies when we went to preach in a city in
Siberia by the name of Angarsk.
Siberia, as most of you know, is where for years the Soviet
Union imprisoned people for being followers of Jesus.
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In Angarsk Brother Garlock was invited to preach to a
particular Baptist congregation that was meeting in the large
opera house in the city.
It was a very beautiful building in Italian style, probably the
most beautiful building in the city.
Following s service where several placed faith in Christ,
Brother Garlock was surprised to learn the church does not
have to pay any rent for use of the Opera House.
They don’t even have to pay for utilities.
The city lets them use it at absolutely no cost.
Then some of the church members told Brother Garlock
something of the history of the Opera House.
The Opera House was build largely by inmates from the
Siberian Gulags, the prisons in which many Christians were
imprisoned for their faith.
The people told Brother Garlock that when citizens of
Angarsk were going about their daily routine back during the
height of the persecution of Christians, that when they
passed by the Opera House as it was being constructed,
they would sometimes overhear the people praying as they
toiled in the freezing cold in winter, or under the blazing sun
in winter; “Oh God, some day let this building be used
for Your glory.”
Brother Garlock was moved to tears as he realized that God
had granted him the privilege of not only witnessing, but of
also being a part of the answer to that prayer.
Those suffering saints who labored to build that Opera
House did not live to see the answer to their prayers – at
least not on this side of eternity – but they finished strong.
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They served the Lord when it might have seemed to them
that God had forgotten them.
They remained strong when it would have been just as easy
to quit.
They finished strong.
They didn’t give up.
Neither will we!