Our Own Storms

Until we see God-sent storms as interventions and not punishments, we’ll never get better; we’ll only get bitter.  Some difficult circumstances you’re facing right now may well be a God-sent storm of mercy intended to be his intervention in your life.  You’re in danger, and either you don’t realize it or you’re living in denial.  How are you responding? 

You may feel frustrated, bitter, angry.  You could be angry with yourself because you want to control thins better than you are.  Or you’re angry with God, intuitively if not consciously.  Or perhaps… you’re facing an affliction that’s someone else’s fault, and you’re angry at that person.  Whatever the case, the question is: Are you crying out to God for help and rescue? 

Psalm 107 is a great help in this way—a great comfort, a great pillow on which to rest our weary heads.  This psalm shows two types of people.  There are those who suffer because they’ve dug themselves into a hole and those who suffer because they fell into a hole dug by others, the result of someone else’s sin.  But the common refrain for both types of people is this: “They cried to the Lord in their trouble.” 

Ultimately it doesn’t matter whether your affliction is your fault or someone else’s.  You need not blame others or live under the guilt of self-blame.  The real question is: Are you responding by crying out to the Lord for deliverance? 

—Tullian Tchividjian, Surprised by Grace