"And the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew." (Matthew 7:25)
The stories of rain, water and storms always make my heart pound as our resilience and faith have been tested over the years, amidst the fury and havoc of storms that pass our country. Behind every storm are stories of fear, grief, survival, courage, self sacrifice and heroism that leave their mark in the heart of every Filipino. They find God in the middle of all this chaos.
As Filipinos, we are no strangers to storms; and as Christians, throughout the Bible – you’ll be amazed that at various occasions - God made His presence felt through rain, water and storms.
Who will forget the famous story and the valuable lessons of Noah and the Ark? The story is centered on Noah as God favored him for his obedience and righteousness and saved him, his family and a pair of every kind of animal from the Great Flood. At the end, God sent a dove as a sign of peace and a rainbow over the horizon as a new hope.
Remember the story of Jesus calming the storm? The disciples awaken Jesus from His sleep as they were in panic as windstorm threatens to fill the boat with water. They cry out, “Master, Master, we are perishing.” Jesus wakes up, rebukes the storm and chides the apostles - " 'Where is your faith?' he asked his disciples." (Luke 8:25a).
On these narratives, God wants us to understand that storms are expressions of His power and wisdom. In our journey in life with Christ, we encounter not only physical storms but storms of doubts and confusion, health problems, financial and job crisis, family and marriage problems. And during these uncertainties, we fail to realize that God is not interested in just calming the storms in our lives. Instead, He is interested on how we will grow, mature, learn and develop faith amidst the storms.
Without trials and sufferings, people become weak, conceited, arrogant and spiritually empty. There is no growth without adversities and sufferings, and there is no growth without storm.
A storm is God’s invitation for us to build a strong foundation of our life upon the Rock of Salvation - a deeper relationship in the exploration of faith, self-sacrifice and heroism in the midst of crisis. Let us experience, endure and learn to perfection the behavior of the storms, that may our faith grow and develop in our relationship with God and share our love so that others may live as we look forward for the dawning of the sun and the faith-blessed tomorrows.
"Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey Him." (Luke 8:25b)
► Read George's previous articles here.
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