Lightning streaked across the sky.  Thunder rumbled in the distance.  The rain didn’t come, but the humidity rose steadily, promising rain would come.  It was well after two in the morning, but I couldn’t sleep.  Sitting on the living room floor in front of the French doors that lead to my deck, with my terrified dog resting her head in my lap, I watched the seemingly endless lightning flashing through the dark.

What is it about storms that I just have to watch?  I have a good friend who is absolutely terrified of storms.  He was visiting one afternoon when a storm hit.  For the duration of the storm, he stood or sat in the doorway of the inner-most room of my house and waited it out while I stood on my front step, watching the blinding lightning and swirling wind on the horizon.  He thought I was nuts.  But, storms are fascinating to me.  Lightning, thunder, wind, clouds forming and rushing across the sky, even the hammering of hail on the roof in 80-degree weather captivate me.  The science behind it interests me and I know that only God can create such wonders.  His majesty and power are demonstrated in the phenomena of weather (and all nature).

Storms don’t usually bother me.  I love to watch the lightning and listen to the thunder. What kept me awake this night, during this storm, was the strangeness of it.  There wasn’t a hint of wind.  All was still.  Tornados aren’t common in Upstate New York, but having lived in Georgia for a number of years, the stillness had me wondering what might be coming.  It was the sound of my dog, Sophie, whimpering at the bottom of the stairs that drew me from my bed and down to the living room.  The oddity of it made me a bit uneasy.  What would this storm bring?

“That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, ‘Let us go over to the other side.’  Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him.  A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped.   Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, ‘Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?’  He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, ‘Quiet! Be still!’  Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.  He said to his disciples, ‘Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?’  They were terrified and asked each other, ‘Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!’” Mark 4:35-41

The disciples lived and walked with Jesus.  They slept where he slept, ate what he ate, witnessed each miracle.  He proved himself to them over and over and over.  Yet, when the storm hit, they were terrified and questioned His love for them – “don’t you care if we drown?”  They didn’t seem to notice his calm.  He slept through it, without a care in the world.  His calm should’ve been a sign to them that they had nothing to worry about.  They seemed to forget who He was and what He had been doing over the many months they’d been together.  They took their focus off the Lord and focused instead on the storm.

We, too, are guilty of fearing the storm rather than trusting the Lord.  Troubles come – sickness, financial trouble, family problems, wayward children – and we focus on the troubles.  We let ourselves become overwhelmed by the wind and waves and forget all that the Lord has done.  We question whether or not He really cares.  “Don’t you care, Lord, that I am sick, struggling financially, etc?  Don’t you care that my child is speeding down a path of destruction?”  We look at the “stuff” instead of looking at the One who is in control of it all.  We forget who He is and all that He has already brought to pass in our lives.

God, the Creator and Orchestrator of it all, wants us to trust in His perfection.  He wants us to look to Him rather than our problems.  He can and will bring every event, every problem, every storm, into submission to Him.  He has a plan that is bigger than anything we can imagine.

“What’s coming?” I whispered into the night during our lightning storm.

“Trust Me,” was the gentle reply.

I relaxed, took a deep breath, and rested my head against the window pane.  It wasn’t long before the dog sighed and went to sleep.  The lightning continued to light up the sky, but I was at peace.  Trusting God and His perfect ways, I was calmed and able to rest despite the storm.