Security in Christ when the Storms of life hit

Looking back over the last year of my life, and everything that happened, I can only say it was the grace of God that carried me through. I honestly don’t know how people can walk through life without knowing the Lord in a personal way. There is definitely an increase in drugs and alcohol, especially in the community I am seeking to reach out in. The other day, I was working at the hospital, and admitted a young girl who needed surgery that morning. She advised me that she was starting to feel very anxious especially because she normally has her marijuana every morning to help relax her. I tried to give her some reassurance, and told her that I’d be praying for her. My thought was, "Where do we turn for our security when facing a storm?" Almost everyone I know is going through some trial or storm. 

This hymn comes to mind, "Will your anchor hold in the Storms of life?"

Will your anchor hold in the storms of life,
when the clouds unfold their wings of strife?
When the strong tides lift, and the cables strain, will your anchor drift, or firm remain?

We have an anchor that keeps the soul
steadfast and sure while the billows roll;
fastened to the Rock which cannot move,
grounded firm and deep in the Saviour’s love!

Will your anchor hold in the straits of fear,
when the breakers roar and the reef is near?
While the surges rave, and the wild winds blow, shall the angry waves then your bark o'erflow?

Will your anchor hold in the floods of death, when the waters cold chill your latest breath? On the rising tide you can never fail, while your anchor holds within the veil.

Will your eyes behold through the morning light the city of gold and the harbour bright?
Will you anchor safe by the heavenly shore,
when life's storms are past for evermore?

-Priscilla J. Owens

Jesus said, "These things I have spoken to you, that in ME you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)

He is the Good Shepherd who invites us to COME to Him. In Matthew 11:28-30, He tells us, "COME to ME, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from ME, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

How often do we, like sheep go astray? We have turned everyone to His own way. (Isaiah 53:6) The Bible calls this idolatry. Instead of running into the arms of the Good Shepherd, we tend to run into other relationships, or to different addictions, thinking we know what’s best. The Lord through the prophet Jeremiah cries out, "My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns-broken cisterns that can hold no water." (Jeremiah 2:13) The earnest cry of the Lord Jesus in John 7:37 is, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." (John 7:37, 38)

How often do we seek God’s blessings, rather than the Blesser Himself? Laura story, who wrote the song, Blessings, spoke of this when a year and a half into her marriage, a brain tumor was discovered on her husband.  She wrote these words.

We pray for blessings, we pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity

We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while You hear each spoken need
Yet love is way too much to give us lesser things

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears?
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You're near?
What if trials of this life
Are Your mercies in disguise?

We pray for wisdom, Your voice to hear
We cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
And all the while You hear each desperate plea. -Laura Story

A.B. Simpson said it this way… "Once it was the Blessing."

Once it was the blessing,
  Now it is the Lord;
Once it was the feeling,
  Now it is His Word;
Once His gift I wanted,
  Now, the Giver own;
Once I sought for healing,
  Now Himself alone.
       

All in all forever,
  Only Christ I’ll sing;
Everything is in Christ,
    And Christ is everything.

Once ’twas painful trying,
  Now ’tis perfect trust;
Once a half salvation,
  Now the uttermost;
Once ’twas ceaseless holding,
  Now He holds me fast;
Once ’twas constant drifting,
  Now my anchor’s cast.

Once ’twas busy planning,
  Now ’tis trustful prayer;
Once ’twas anxious caring,
  Now He has the care;
Once ’twas what I wanted,
  Now what Jesus says;
Once ’twas constant asking,
  Now ’tis ceaseless praise.

Once it was my working,
  His it hence shall be;
Once I tried to use Him,
  Now He uses me;
Once the pow’r I wanted,
  Now the Mighty One;
Once for self I labored,
  Now for Him alone.

Once I hoped in Jesus,
  Now I know He’s mine;
Once my lamps were dying,
  Now they brightly shine;
Once for death I waited,
  Now His coming hail;
And my hopes are anchored
  Safe within the veil.

- A.B. Simpson

So how do we get our anchor to hold in the Storms of life? God promises perfect peace to the One whose mind is fixed on Him (Isaiah 26:3). For sure, it is first in knowing Jesus Christ as our own personal Saviour, crying out to Him in faith and repentance, and secondly, in building a lifelong relationship with Him as our Lord and Friend. Psalm One tells us about the one who meditates on God's Word, that they will be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. A tree planted by water is strong, healthy, established, and is fertile. I want to be like that. Jesus said, "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing." (John 15:5) It is the one whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and the one who meditates on it day and night, whose anchor will hold in life’s storms.

Over the past year, I was reading a book called, Evidence Not Seen, by Darlene Deibler Rose. As a newlywed American missionary, she survived four years in a notorious Japanese prison camp set deep in the jungles of New Guinea. This was during world war two. Thinking she was never to see her husband again, Darlene Rose was forced to sign a false confession and face the executioner’s sword, only to be miraculously spared. As she waited in a prison cell for several weeks, on death’s row, it was scripture that she had committed to memory that sustained her, in particular Psalm 27 and Psalm 91.

Fanny Crosby faced a storm of blindness from infancy when a Doctor through malpractice caused her blindness. Yet God used her to write over 9000 hymns rich with scriptural truths that have ministered to countless men and women down through the ages.

A couple of months back, I attended a patient whose face was disfigured, he had a tracheotomy that kept plugging, he was tube fed, and his only form of communication was a felt pen and a whiteboard. Yet, I noticed a peace about him, in his wife too, who faithfully cared for him. He had lived in this condition for years now as a result of the malpractice of his Dentist who did not follow the correct protocol for someone who had undergone radiation.

I can only conclude that these men and women had made their relationship with the Lord a priority, and that time in His word, and in prayer gave them their strength. Daniel 11:32b reminds us that the people who know their God shall be strong. Jeremiah said, "Your words were found, and I did eat them; and Your word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart: for I am called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts." (Jeremiah 15:16) The Psalmist wrote, "He sent His word and healed them." (Psalm 107:20) Charles Spurgeon said, "A Bible that’s falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn’t." 

The Lord is more than able to calm our storm when we cry out to Him, just as he did for the disciples in Mark chapter 4, but sometimes His will is to calm the sailor. Psalm 46 reminds us to, "Be still and know that He is God." When we cannot see His hand, may we always trust His heart, knowing that, "All things work together for good to those who love Him and are the called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28)." May we say with David in Psalm 71:3, "Lord, be Thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: You have given commandment to save me; for You are my Rock and my Fortress." May it be our hearts desire to bring glory to God in every circumstance. May we, as believers in Christ, uphold each other in prayer, even as Aaron and Hur held up Moses’ hands in the battle against Amalek in Exodus 17:8-13.

The rebuke to the church in Ephesus was that they had left their first love (Revelation 2:4). If that is true of us in anyway, may today be the day of our return to the true Lover of our souls. "He satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with goodness." (Psalm 107:9). "The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe." (Proverbs 18:10). "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you." (James 4:8) "If God is in the midst of you, you will not be moved." (Psalm 46:5) St. Augustine said, "Thou hast made us for Thyself, O Lord, and our heart’s are restless until they find rest in Thee."

There is a peace that cometh after sorrow,
Of hope surrendered, not of hope fulfilled.
A peace that looketh not upon tomorrow,
But calmly on a tempest that is stilled.
A peace that lives not now in joy’s excesses,
Nor in the happy life of love secure;
But in the unerring strength the heart possesses,
Of conflicts won while learning to endure.
A peace there is, in sacrifice secluded,
A life subdued from will and passion free
‘Tis not the peace that over Eden brooded,
But that which triumphed in Gethsemane.
- Jessie Rose Gates 1897

Wings

I wish I had as fine strong wings as yonder bird that sweetly sings, I’d fly away from grief and pain and never would come back again. 

"Why Child," my souls best friend replies, "This wish of yours is not denied, you have the wings of faith and prayer to rise above each earthly care, and then the wings of love and song, to bear your trusting soul along, and wings of hope that cannot fail though Satan strongly may assail, you’re dearer than the bird that sings I’ve  given you five pairs of wings!"

So with my wings I face each blast and rise until the storm is past, with faith and prayer and love and song and hope to bear my soul along, I seek no longer some strange place but where I am I trust His grace. - Author unknown