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Wednesday, August 6, 2014

P1 Weathering Life's Storms - God is in charge over storms and meets us in them - Acts 27



Acts 27:20 "Since neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small storm was assailing us, from then on all hope of our being saved was gradually abandoned."

Introduction:
Throughout the Bible we see many references to storms - both physical and otherwise. Who can forget the biggest storm of all time? The world-wide flood of Noah's day in Genesis 6-9? Certainly Job experienced his time of storms in Job 1-2. In Job 37:12-13 we are given the following insight about God's use of storms: “It changes direction, turning around by His guidance, that it may do whatever He commands it On the face of the inhabited earth. 13 “Whether for correction, or for His world, or for lovingkindness, He causes it to happen." So we see several key points about storms thus far: 1). God is in charge over every storm. 2). Sometimes He will reveal His purposes of storms. 3). God meets His people in storms. 

David saw the glory of God being revealed in a storm in Psalm 29. Who can forget the relunctant prophet Jonah being swallowed by a large fish in the middle of a storm in his book. A century after Jonah's day we see another prophet Nahum writing his prophecy. The prophet Nahum wrote these words in Nahum 1:3 "The Lord is slow to anger and great in power,And the Lord will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. In whirlwind and storm is His way, and clouds are the dust beneath His feet."

The Old Testament is not the only part of the Bible where storms are mentioned.  During Jesus' ministry here on this earth, He experienced physical and emotional storms with His disciples. Mark 6:49-50 records an episode involving a storm: "But when they saw Him walking on the sea, they supposed that it was a ghost, and cried out; 50 for they all saw Him and were terrified. But immediately He spoke with them and said to them, “Take courage; it is I, do not be afraid.” 51 Then He got into the boat with them, and the wind stopped; and they were utterly astonished."

In Acts 27 we witness what is perhaps the most detailed account of a storm found anywhere in the Bible. The Apostle Paul has been tried before rulers and authorities, with the decision made that he was to appear before Caesar in Rome. Paul's journey would take him from Caesarea to Rome over a period of several months. In the course of that journey God willed for their to be a storm in Paul's life. 

Point of application:
As we think about how storms are presented in the scriptures and in our lives, how can you and I weather such storms? We can note the following main point: "God is in charge over storms and meets us in them". 

The one thing we can certainly note in both the Bible and life is this: you are either coming out of a storm or getting ready to ride into one.  I know many readers out there, including myself, understand the notion of "life's storms". The aim of these next several posts is to walk our way through Acts 27 and other scriptures like the ones above to better grasp how God is indeed in charge over storms and how He aims to meet us in them.

More tomorrow....