Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by. Psalms 57:1
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress.
He made the storm be still,
and the waves of the sea were hushed. Psalms 107:28-29
Behold the storm of the Lord! Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest; it will burst upon the head of the wicked. Jeremiah 30:23
And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. Matthew 8:23-26
The storms are growing. The intensity of the turmoil is increasing. Storms of weather, storms of industry, economic storms, banking and currency storms, storms in morality, storms of pestilence, storms in almost every area of our lives. Who will escape the storms? No one. But we have a King that can help us ride through the current storms IF we listen to Him. But the storms might destroy all that we hold on to that we think will ‘save us’. Pensions, investments, securities, properties we think are our ‘salvation’ and source of survival. Unless the Lord protect them they can easily be swept out of our lives. What exactly does it mean for Him to be our refuge and salvation? Is it what you think and expect? Or is it what He thinks and will actually do? Are you completely aligned with His thoughts and expectations?
When you read the apocalyptic portions of the scriptures you can see the level of devastation that is prophesied. When those types of storms come — there is only ONE salvation. And we can’t do anything about it — other than look to Him for salvation. Will that salvation be an eternal one, or a present earthly one, or a step by step obedient act of faith that He is providing to us? All of that is in His hands. We MUST be ready for the eternal salvation, now, today, and live like that will be His first choice for us. TC2. Then we must continually ask if any preparation He wants us to make at this present moment — like He asked of Noah, and Joseph. Sometimes He wants us to prepare for the coming ‘storm’. Can you hear Him well enough to hear His instructions, or are you just doing what you think needs to be done without checking with Him directly? What do you think will last and be effective? Doing what the Spirit of God is instructing you to do, or your own ideas? That’s a big wrestling match within ourselves. It’s worth it to think those through.
Sometimes the storms are unleashed upon us without any warning. But if one is truly listening to the Spirit of God and not dismissing His Voice — then there are the warnings to be acted upon, and sometimes instructions that really don’t make sense at the time, but will be useful at the proper needed season of storms.
Remnant. Refuge. Redemption. We will need ALL of these in the coming days of the storms.
What is He instructing you to do today to prepare for the storm?