How to Weather the Storm

The year 2020 has been marked by unprecedented changes and uncharted waters that few could have anticipated.  Global pandemic, social injustice and economic uncertainty have had an impact across the planet, and we will likely be feeling the ripples for the foreseeable future.  

And beyond these global and local concerns, life goes on presenting its own unique opportunities and challenges from new jobs to layoffs, weddings to divorces, and funerals to new life in childbirth.  

To say that we all face challenging “storms” in life would be an understatement.

In fact, Jesus affirms this reality in John 16:33 when he famously states that “In this life you will have tribulation.”  Some translations tone it down to “trouble,” but I think “tribulation” captures it better.  The Greek word is “thlipsis,” which can also mean “pressure,” “affliction,” “anguish,” “burden,” or “persecution.”  

So if we can’t escape the storm(s), we are left with the options to either weather the storm(s) or to get swept away and overcome by the storm(s).

Fortunately, Jesus provided some life-saving insights on this very topic.

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.  And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.

Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like the foolish man who built his house on the sand.  The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell – and great was its fall.” (Matt. 7:24-27)

“Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?  Everyone who comes to me and hears My words and acts on them, I will show you whom he is like:

he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock; and when a flood occurred, the torrent burst against the house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.

But the one who has heard and has not acted accordingly, is like the man who built a house on the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great.” (Luke 6:46-49)

This applies to us as well:

1. Are we “hearing” God’s Word? (through Scripture, prayer, worship, etc.)
2. Are we acting on God’s Word?

This is the foundation on which we build our entire life.

It is worth the reminder that Jesus mentioned the rain, the floods and the winds in both cases.  The application seems obvious – we are guaranteed to face storms and struggles in this life, so that does not change by hearing and acting on God’s Word.  What does change is our ability to weather the storms – to bend and not break.

Anchor your life on the solid foundation, and not on the fleeting, shifting sands!