Storms
Much has happened last week, and I haven’t written about them because my dorm’s internet connection wasn’t exactly connected to the world wide web. It was due to some reason I couldn’t figure out, and even if it were connected, I still wouldn’t find the time—I had lots of things to finish and to study. In a way, internet deprivation was something to be thankful for: it restored my focus.
Anyway, the Lord has just taught me a lot of things. For that, and for everything, I’m forever grateful. While I was having my quiet moment with him, I asked Him many things concerning the anxieties that dulled my vision and the concerns that troubled me. I was so overwhelmed when He directed me to Psalm 107 22 – 31. These are a few things He has taught me:
1. Be humble.
It occurs to me that humans are desperately proud. We think we can do anything with our lives, that with enough skill and perseverance—and a little rain of luck—we can become successful. But that’s not how it is in real life. The real score is that our lives are in the direct control of God’s sovereign hand. No wonder why God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.
2. Storms do come in our lives.
And what causes them? Sometimes, other people cause them (Acts 27). Sometimes, it is God who sends them to test and increase our faith in Him (Matthew 14). Through our disobedience, we can cause storms in our lives, too—like Jonah who ran away from God. The only way God could bring Him back was through a storm.
3. The greatest storm that ever happened was at Calvary.
To complain about the storms that happen to us is stupid because this kind of complaint reflects downright ignorance (and forgetfulness) with regards to what Christ Jesus has accomplished on the Cross for us.
There’s no reason to complain after all. He made me see how painful it was for Jesus to hang there on the Cross—the pain He experienced wasn’t only physical but also spiritual because for the first time, the Father turned His back on Him, a perfect relationship was broken, and the Son was forsaken. But why did Jesus have to undergo such a tribulation?
I saw Him, while I closed my eyes in prayer, on the Cross, crying out to God, “Why have you forsaken me?” and for the first time in many months, I remembered that it was I, and the rest of the sinners of this world, that He was thinking of.
Anyway, the Lord has just taught me a lot of things. For that, and for everything, I’m forever grateful. While I was having my quiet moment with him, I asked Him many things concerning the anxieties that dulled my vision and the concerns that troubled me. I was so overwhelmed when He directed me to Psalm 107 22 – 31. These are a few things He has taught me:
1. Be humble.
It occurs to me that humans are desperately proud. We think we can do anything with our lives, that with enough skill and perseverance—and a little rain of luck—we can become successful. But that’s not how it is in real life. The real score is that our lives are in the direct control of God’s sovereign hand. No wonder why God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.
2. Storms do come in our lives.
And what causes them? Sometimes, other people cause them (Acts 27). Sometimes, it is God who sends them to test and increase our faith in Him (Matthew 14). Through our disobedience, we can cause storms in our lives, too—like Jonah who ran away from God. The only way God could bring Him back was through a storm.
3. The greatest storm that ever happened was at Calvary.
To complain about the storms that happen to us is stupid because this kind of complaint reflects downright ignorance (and forgetfulness) with regards to what Christ Jesus has accomplished on the Cross for us.
There’s no reason to complain after all. He made me see how painful it was for Jesus to hang there on the Cross—the pain He experienced wasn’t only physical but also spiritual because for the first time, the Father turned His back on Him, a perfect relationship was broken, and the Son was forsaken. But why did Jesus have to undergo such a tribulation?
I saw Him, while I closed my eyes in prayer, on the Cross, crying out to God, “Why have you forsaken me?” and for the first time in many months, I remembered that it was I, and the rest of the sinners of this world, that He was thinking of.
posted on January 31, 2006
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