I would definitely say we have had our share of thunderstorms this summer. It seems that every day for the last week or so about 4 or 5 o’clock in the afternoon that there is a dull rumble of thunder in the distance followed ever so quickly by a torrential downpour – or what people in the south like to call a “gulley washer”. This is southern slang for one of those storms that comes out of nowhere, pours buckets for about 15 or 20 minutes to the extent that the ground can’t absorb the overflow and so the gullies flood. If you have ever been caught in one driving down the road or woken up to its fury in the middle of the night, it can seem like the longest 15 or 20 minutes of your life!
I often like to read the lyrics of old hymns because there is such awesome theology in them; theology that speaks of people who knew the Lord in a way that seems almost foreign to us now. One such hymn is William Cowper’s “God Moves in Mysterious Ways”. I was particularly drawn in by these verses:
God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm.
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
In blessings on your head.
His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flow’r.
Blind unbelief is sure to err
And scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.
These words not only made me think of the unpredictable nature of thunderstorms but also the unpredictable nature of God. The paranoid side of me, when I see dark clouds forming and a storm ahead, automatically thinks the worst, plans for the worst and inevitably waits for the worst . I’ll be honest. The unpredictable nature of God is not always comforting to me either. Well, if I am being honest, most of the time it isn’t comforting to me. I am a planner, a control-freak, type A etc; I want to know the end from the beginning. I want to know all of the why’s, when’s and how’s to every situation. I don’t like the angst and anxiety of not knowing what tomorrow will hold or how to prepare for it. I want to know when the storm will be over!! It is unsettling to say the least! But recently, the Lord has really started to test me in this area and to convict me as well because…well, because it is sin. Sin that I do not trust Him for what I cannot see. Sin that as the bible says, “without faith it is impossible to please God.” Not somewhat possible, not maybe possible but IMPOSSIBLE to please God (Hebrews 11:6).
I ask myself “why is it that you are convinced that God is only able to work in good and happy times?” What brings Him greater glory: An impossible, stormy, cloud-covered situation or a bright, clear, happy circumstance? I know which brings ME greater glory and joy. But isn’t that the point when God says “I will not give my glory to another” – even you, even me (Is. 42:8)? In the sunshine it is so easy for us to give credit to ourselves or to not even think about giving anyone credit, we just move along from day to day while things are good. However, when the storm hits, the thunder shakes the foundation and the lightning threatens to strike, where is our focus?
Sometimes we ask a lot of “why’s” from God and we fail to realize that explanation rarely changes things. Revelation changes things. We get so hung up on an explanation that we cannot see that what we need is revelation. We need more of Him to get us through the storm, not a ten point dissertation on why we are in the middle of the storm. In the middle of the night when the storm rages I don’t want a stranger to hold onto, I want my husband! I know him, I feel safe with him, I trust him. So it is with God. When we know Him, we find security in His presence and we focus on His presence not on the storm.
Consider and meditate on these things: Would Peter’s faith have ever been strengthened by walking on water if there hadn’t been a storm? Would the disciples have seen Jesus for who He truly was if there had been no crisis for Him to perform a miracle over? If men were not lame, demon-possessed, blind or dead would Jesus have been worshipped for the power He embodied as God in the flesh?
I am guilty of thinking that every unfavorable circumstance in my life is a result of God’s displeasure with me. I rationalize that in some way I am being disciplined because life is hard. Sometimes this is the case. Sometimes we face consequences to our sin but there are times when we are simply vessels for which His glory might be revealed. In John 9:2-3, right before Jesus was to heal a blind man his disciples asked, “Who sinned, this man or his parents that he would be born blind? But Jesus answered and said, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.” This man, blind from birth, was a vessel to reveal God’s glory. Do you think being blind had been a burden to him? Do you think that the thought that he was blind due to some unpardonable sin had been a heavy weight to bear? Absolutely! But all of this “that the works of God might be displayed in him!”
The Lord has promised us in His word that “all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). We can bank on the fact that we WILL get the good in Christ Jesus but HE chooses how He gets the glory. We don’t get to choose how He gets His glory. We don’t get to choose what cross we will bear. This is what scripture talks about in denying self, taking up your cross and following Him. Putting aside our ideas of how things should be, what we want to be or how we would like things to go and allowing God to simply USE us for His good pleasure. We can choose to allow ourselves to willingly lay down our lives as vessels to His glory every day. You see, ultimately, everyone will be a vessel for God’s glory whether through wrath or through grace but ALL mankind WILL give Him glory. “What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory” (Romans 9:22-23)? What a gracious gift to be marked out for honor rather than for wrath! This very fact should make our hearts sing with delight and our “yokes easy and our burdens light.” What grace to be used for the glory of God even when all we can see is the storm!
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