4-5-2019

Good Morning All,

        Isaiah 43: 1b-2; ““Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.  When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.”

    It has been quite a winter so far and it appears to be not quite done yet.  We have witnessed some incredible storms, now flooding and the weatherman says more is on the way.  Rain or snow and plenty of wind.

   It is kind of funny.  When the weather forecasters predict the weather, they miss the moisture as often as they don’t but they always get the wind right.  Whenever they predict wind, we get it.  It was a good day to stay inside and get some inside stuff done.  We needed a hiding place from the wind, a shelter from the storm.

   Most of us can relate to this verse at all the levels Isaiah lists.  We have been through deep waters or fires.  We have been out in the scorching heat and wanted some cool refreshing time out of the sun.  We have experienced the cold, the hot, the deep rivers, the storms which come our way.

    As we live our life, we have had this in our spiritual, emotional, relational and experiential life.  We have all experienced storms.  Whether it seems big to others or not, it was a storm to us.  It may be the anxiety from taking a test in school, a friendship that slips away, a job that is rocky, finances that are shaky, heath issues, death of loved ones, or even our own approaching mortality; we all experience storms.

    That is probably the biggest mistake many believers face.  Some think that if we are Christians we never have struggles, there is never deep water or fires.  This leads to a crisis of faith when we face a storm in life.  The thought process is that IF I am a Christian I will have no struggles so if I have struggles I must NOT be a Christian.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Sometimes it seems that Christians face more storms than non-believers.  I think it is because we face struggles of faith when we worry about others.  Talk to any Christian grandmother you know, all they do is pray for their grandchildren and face storms about how they live, how they act, how they will live their life of faith.  We all have storms just like the weatherman doesn’t miss wind as a forecast, we will face storms.

    The difference is that we don’t face them alone.  We have a loving God who is our shelter.  We can look throughout Scriptures and see where God id our refuge, our shelter, our hope, our comfort and the list goes on.  Storms will occur but they will never last.  God will heal us, God will guide us, and God will protect us.  We rest in his loving hands. 

Heavenly Father, you are our only source of comfort, you alone are our shelter.  Protect us this day and when the storms of life occur, use them to strength our faith and draw us closer to you.  Hold us safely in your arms and give us peace.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray.  Amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret