God Is in the Storm

I have a former church member who remains a very close friend of mine even today. 

This man is going through some very terrible trials right now.  Before I was called into the ministry, this man was our worship music leader. He is such a strong Christian man who has been blessed with eight children and nine grandchildren. Even though we don’t attend the same church anymore, I still see him and I remain on my old church’s Prayer Chain.

Up until two years ago, this man and his family had enjoyed life and he has been greatly blessed. Like Job, he had a comfortable income, a great job, a wonderful wife and beautiful, healthy children. All had seemed to be going so well for him and then the storms hit.

Wave after another wave came crashing down on this man’s family like huge breakers colliding into the seashore. Within the last two years this friend had lost his daughter to cancer. He has a six year old grandson currently on hospice. His wife has one of the rarest forms of cancer that little is known about it. Another of his youngest grandsons had an operation for a hole in his heart.

After talking to him recently he said that “God had been teaching me many things in all of this.” This is truly remarkable. This man’s faith in God is rock solid. He sees that God is working in his life through these storms. He knows that God has a purpose for all things.

Nothing seems to shake his trust in a sovereign God. He sees that he needed to be relying on God more and that he needed to be more devoted to prayer. He looks at this temporal life from an eternal perspective. I wondered if I could go through what he has and not turned bitter. He sees life and truly believes God is in these storms. His faith is as strong as the Object of his faith. God is unmovable.

I believe this man’s trust in God is a veritable fortress. God is his strong tower. He is certain that all things will work out for his good. He is certainly not saying that all things are good but that all of these things will all work out for his best. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)