HOW TO WEATHER THE STORMS OF LIFE
(Adapted from a sermon written by Ron Ritchie titled the same)
Anthony Perry Jr.
Acts 27: 13-26
Pastor Ron Ritchie once talked about a friend of his named Jack who called him one night many years ago. He sensed immediately that his heart was heavy with grief. A few months prior his wife Cindy had become pregnant for the first time after years of waiting on the Lord to start a family. Jack was calling to say that they had just been told by the doctors that their baby would have extreme and serious birth defects.
After genetic testing the doctors discovered a problem with the baby’s chromosomes. The child would be severely mentally handicapped and was not expected to live very long after birth. Jack asked Pastor Ritchie and the church to pray for them during their difficult time. They were feeling the effects of the winds of the world advising them to have an abortion and avoid the stress and strain that came from caring for a handicapped child.
During his conversation Jack never once mentioned his own personal storm. One year previously he had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. This Christian couple was facing a severe storm. They needed to be held up in prayer and supported so they could trust God and find the strength they needed to weather the storm. One of the greatest witnesses of God’s care and love comes when others see how God carries us through the difficult times.
All of us are familiar with natural weather storms. They can be unpredictable and dangerous. Violent weather can bring random death and destruction. Weather storms have always been a symbol of the personal and intense emotional and physical storms that blow in the hearts people. Today, even if you are not in the midst of some physical, emotional, spiritual, financial, business, family, or marriage storm, we all know of someone who has, or who is facing such a tempest.
This is the subject I want to address this morning. How can we weather the storms of life clinging to our Lord in such a way that others can see the goodness and mercy of the God who carries His people? The apostle Paul and his companions are good examples for us this morning
They are on board an Egyptian grain ship bound for Italy. Their passage has been paid by the government of Rome. The apostle was a prisoner of the Roman Empire for allegedly starting a riot in the temple area in Jerusalem. After being secretly moved to Caesarea he was accused by the High Priest before the Roman Governor Felix.
Many years after his arrest arrangements were made to ship him some 2 000 miles away to Rome.
This wasn’t a two-week cruise on a Caribbean Princess liner where people eat and dance and bask in the sun. This was a six-month voyage. Our storyteller Luke makes sure that we do not miss any of the details
As you hear the account you sense the storm clouds building and the winds becoming stronger and more violent and dangerous. Luke says the winds were contrary, the wind did not permit us to go farther, it was difficulty sailing, there was a moderate south wind, it became a violent wind, and that became a violent storm that tossed them about and neither sun, nor stars appeared for many days. He says it was no small storm assailing them and as they were being driven they hit a reef and their ship broke up.
How can we weather the storms of life when our lives seem to be breaking up on the reefs of life? First we discover that we must
I. Realize God’s Purposes Behind the Storms
This was not the apostle’s first voyage and it wasn’t his first shipwreck on the Mediterranean Sea. He had been in three wrecks already. Paul understood the seas and their weather patterns. He knew that because of the time of year that dangerous weather was imminent. This prisoner of Jesus Christ felt compelled to sound a warning to those in charge of the voyage.
However the Roman centurion Julius who had the last word was more persuaded by the pilot, the captain, and the majority vote of the crew. So they went on their merry way.
Their merry way ended them up in a place where Luke says all hope of making it through the voyage was lost.
We find the spiritual principles behind these events in Psalm 107.
Those who go down to the sea ships
Who do business on great waters;
They have seen the works of the Lord
And His wonders in the deep
For He speaks and raises up a stormy wind
Which lifts up the waves of the sea
They rose up to the heavens they went down to the depths;
Their soul melted away in their misery
They reeled and staggered like drunken men
And were at their wits’ end
Here we discover that the storm which Paul and his companions were caught in was caused by the spoken word of God in the very beginning when He ordered all creation. He spoke it into existence in order to bring people to a place where their souls melted away and they recognized the awesome power of an almighty God. It also became an opportunity for God to save when those people found themselves in the midst of His world’s mighty storms. Their ship a few hours earlier was their security and now it was breaking up. Any self-confidence they had before they boarded was gone. They were like drunken men cast upon a sea of uncertainty helpless and hopeless looking into the very eyes of death.
Our Lord allows natural storms to come into our lives for a variety of reasons. For unbelievers some storms are even sent so that people will cry out to God for salvation. In the case of believers God can use these storms to accomplish several things in the lives of Hid people. We see this recorded in the life of Jonah and in the lives of the disciples of Jesus in the New Testament
In the case of Jonah God had asked his prophet to preach against the wickedness of Nineveh and hoping to hide from God Jonah took a ship heading in the opposite direction. The Lord sent him a great storm. The sailors discovered from Jonah that he was the reason the storm was on the sea, so they threw him overboard. The storm was caused by God in order to bring his disobedient servant back into a right relationship with Him. He sent the storm so Jonah could repent, because Jonah’s service to God and his eternal salvation were more important than Jonah understood or realized for himself.
We have another example of God’s using a storm to teach truth and faith in the New Testament. On one occasion Jesus and his disciples get in a boat to head across the Sea of Galilee and as soon as they set sail Jesus fell asleep.
A great storm erupts suddenly in the sea so that the boat was covered with the waves, but Jesus slept .The disciples frantic and afraid awoke Him and said, “Save us Lord we are perishing” Jesus said, “Why are you fearful, you men of little faith.” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea and it became perfectly calm. Jesus allowed this storm to come, so that the disciples could learn to trust him and not in themselves or in the boat underneath their feet.
In the same way the Lord sometimes allows and sometimes causes storms to come in our lives so that we will place our faith in him and in him alone. The second thing we need to do is;
II Seek and Find God’s Presence During the Storms
And when they had gone a long time without food then Paul stood up in their midst and said. “Men you should have followed my advice and not set sail from Crete. You wouldn’t have all this damage and loss. Yet now I urge you to keep up your courage for there shall be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. For this very night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood before me saying, “Do not be afraid Paul; you must stand before Caesar; and behold God (because of your prayers) has granted you the safety of all those who are sailing with you. Therefore keep up your courage men (keep faith) for I believe (I have faith) that God will cause it to turn out exactly as I have been told.
I don’t think the apostle was being arrogant by reminding the others of the warning he had given them. This is another reason why we enter into storms in our life. Like the soldiers and captain and crew of the ship we don’t follow good advice. We don’t take into account the natural and physical repercussions and circumstances of our world or our human condition. Sometimes God isn’t causing things to happen at all, because sometimes in the very design of life and God’s design of the world accidents happen, especially if we are being foolish in our thinking or actions.
If I stand underneath a loose boulder over my head and poke it with a 2x4 the odds are that I am going to have a big headache soon, or I am going to be a little skinnier and unfortunately far more dead than I had hoped.
Paul says I warned you, but he also says I urge you to keep up your courage.
I can just hear the disbelieving crew responding Paul. How can you say this? Look at us! We’re like drowned rats. It’s all over for us! This is no time for one of your lectures. Our ship is breaking up and we are going down.
When the storm was at its worst Paul’s spirit was at its calmest. The reason for his calmness is given in verse 24 For this very night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood before me saying, “Do not be afraid Paul; you must stand before Caesar; and behold God has granted you and all those who are sailing with you.
In the midst of some of my life’s greatest storms the words, “I will never leave you, nor forsake you have been the words that brought me a calm in the midst of the storm.
The secret of living within a storm is to trust in the presence and power of our Risen Lord over the presence and power of the storm. This brings us to the third thing we must do in the midst of life’s storm. We must;
III Realize and Acknowledge God’s Preservation After The Storm
There was a point in time when the ship’s crew who were trying to escape from the ship was running to let down the ship’s life raft. Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, “Unless these men remain in the ship you yourselves can’t be saved.”
The soldiers seeing the escaping crew and heeding Paul’s advice cut away the ropes of the ship’s life boat and let it fall away. Many hours later Paul encouraged them all to take some food. They had been so overcome by the storm no one had eaten for days. Paul said, “Therefore I encourage you to take some food for this is for your preservation; for not a hair from the head of any of you shall perish. And having said this he took bread and gave thanks to God in the presence of all; and he broke it and began to eat (Sound familiar). And all of them were encouraged.
The centurion wanting to bring Paul safely through commanded that those who could swim should jump overboard first and get to land and the rest should follow on broken up planks and other various floating things from the ship. They all were brought safely to land.
Psalms 107 which described the storm earlier in the message also describes another scene in the storm.
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble
And He brought them out of their distresses
He caused the storm to be still
So that the waves of the sea were hushed
Then they were glad because they were quiet
So He guided them to their desired haven
Let them give thanks to the Lord for His loving kindness
The secret of remaining safe through the storms of life is to place our faith in the Lord. We are to cry out to Him in the midst of our storms and not place our confidence in any ship we might find safety in. He ultimately is the only one who can preserve us in our distress. He is the only one who can calm the storms. And once we are brought to safety we are encouraged to give thanks to the Lord because he guided us to our desired haven. If you don’t know, the desired haven is always God Himself .
Is your health, your marriage, family, or business going through a stormy season? Remember that the key to weathering the storms of life is to realize God’s purposes behind the storms if any; realize God’s presence during the storms; and realize God’s preservation after the storms. Amen.
