Sermon: Through the storm

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble” Ps 46:1

Last week Tuesday the wind blew in the Valley.

We all experienced the power of the wind in different ways: giant dust clouds in the fields, tumbleweeds rolling across the roads, things being flung around the lawn, fire racing across dry ground (thank you to those who helped fight those fires; praying for those of you who experienced loss because of the fires). I experienced it in my car as I drove back from Colorado Springs; my car was pushed to the side by the wind and pelted by tumbleweed. There were moments where you could barely see the car in front of you. While there were moments of rest, you would not describe this drive back as relaxing.

This windy day is a perfect example of life; some have described life as moving from one moment of stress and anxiety to the next with short breaks of rest in between. We feel pushed aside by others. We get pelted by bills and bad news. Our moments of rest only seem to make the return of difficulty worse.

Psalm 46 describes a world in the midst of this chaos and upheaval. Yet, the Psalmist is able to say that he “will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea” (Ps 46:2). Notice that the Psalmist’s belief in God does not take him out of the storm, but it gives him a peace amidst the storm. How is this possible?

This is a question someone might be tempted to ask a woman whom I recently heard share her story. She shared about moments of loss and pain that she had already experienced before moving on to share that she had been diagnosed with a disease with no known cure. She knew that there would be more pain and suffering in her future, she just did not know when it would begin. Even with that stress and fear she was able to say that, in spite of all her questions, she had peace about it because she knew God was with her.

She explained that she had this peace because she knew that God was bigger than her disease. This did not take away her questions of “Why!?”, but it did comfort her to know that the One she was talking to was big enough to handle all of what she was going through.

She went on to explain how her peace came from knowing how much God loved her. That the knowledge that Jesus Christ, God Incarnate, came to earth and experienced fully the low points of what we experience (hunger, stress, pain, suffering, betrayal, loss) gave her comfort that she was not alone in what she was going through; Jesus could relate to her and provide what she needed. His life, death and resurrection gave her the hope she needed amidst the storm. In those moments when she felt forgotten or was overwhelmed by what she was going through, this knowledge that God loved her enough to enter into her pain and go through it with her gave her peace.

My prayer for you, in whatever you are experiencing this week, is that you would feel God’s loving fatherly arms holding you close and His voice reminding you that He is there beside you and that “He will never leave you nor forsake you” (Deut 31:6); that He would not only give you peace amidst the storm, but that He would give you rest after the storm.

Philip VanderWindt is pastor of the Alamosa Christian Reformed Church.