PEACE IN THE MIDST OF THE STORM
It would be wonderful if life was always rosy and filled with sunny days, but the truth is – often it’s not. Often many of God’s children find themselves in the midst of a storm. Of course, it’s easy to rejoice once the storm is over. But what do we do in the midst of the storm?
As a country, we are finding ourselves in the midst of a raging storm – a storm unprecedented in our lifetime. This is a storm not only gripping South Africa, but the world. At the last prayer meeting we had at my home church on the 18th of March, there were 116 confirmed infected persons in South Africa. At that time, they form part of the over 200 000 confirmed cases worldwide and over 8 000 who have died from Covid19. As of last night’s figures, we have 7 572 cases with 148 deaths. 3 609 - half of the cases - are here in the Western Cape. Worldwide, we’ve moved in these seven weeks from 200 000 to 3 777 511 with 261 200 deaths.
Apart from international and national storms, we each go through or are going through our own personal storms. The question we ask this evening: Can we find peace in the midst of a storm?
Let us turn to the Word of God:
Philippians 4:4-9
Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again — rejoice! 5 Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon. 6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done. 7 If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. 8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, let me say one more thing as I close this letter. Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. 9 Keep putting into practice all you learned from me and heard from me and saw me doing, and the God of peace will be with you.
Paul begins by encouraging us to find joy ‘in the Lord.’ Our joy is not in our circumstances, but in the One who is fully aware of our circumstances and Who is always there to help.
Joy is not necessarily happiness – laughing, giggling or having fun. It doesn’t mean that we have a smile plastered across our face. Joy is knowing that God is still on the throne and that though He has allowed storms in our lives, He is able to use it for something that is good. (Romans 8:28)
James also tells us to view our trials with joy, knowing that trials can cause our Christian character to grow (James 1:2). Our first prayer may be, “Lord, I don’t understand why this is happening, but I trust in You to help me through it and to accomplish something good from it.”
Secondly, Paul encourages us to focus on others. (vs 5) “Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon.” It’s unfortunate, but when things are going fine it has a way of causing us to become a bit indifferent to the needs of others.
It is so easy to adopt the attitude of “why worry about what someone else is going through”. But when trouble comes to us, then suddenly there is a reality check as to how others are hurting. Sometimes the wilder the storm, the tamer we become. Perhaps that is part of the reason for the storm. Perhaps the Lord wants to bring us back to the point of focusing more on others.
We have seen this with this lockdown. Things that used to occupy our time and attention don’t seem so important anymore. We’ve started realizing there are more important things - being able to spend time with family; getting to know each other again; spending less time watching sport. Realizing how much we have to be thankful for.
Thirdly we told to pray instead of worry. Paul tells us to not worry about anything. (vs 6) Anything includes everything — even the storm we’re currently facing. Nowhere in scripture are we encouraged to fret and to worry. Always we are told to trust in God. Note also that Paul does not say, “Forget about your problems.” Instead, he says – “Tell God what it is that you need.” As has been said: “Prayer is taking the burden off of our shoulders and placing it upon God’s.” Peter tells us to “Cast all of our care upon God, because God cares about us.” God does not want you to shoulder your burdens alone. He wants you to put the burden upon Him and allow Him to love you.
Fourthly, Paul tells us to fill our minds with thoughts that will build us up instead of thoughts that will tear us down — thoughts that will give us peace. Worry imagines the worst. It dwells in the midst of the trouble. It tries to resolve what it can’t handle. Worry is not only destructive; it is a waste of time. But how do we overcome the temptation to worry? Paul tells us to do so by fixing our thoughts on the things of God. Psalm 84:11 has a great promise for those of us who are tempted to worry – “For the LORD God is our light and protector. He gives us grace and glory. No good thing will the LORD withhold from those who do what is right.”
We are collectively and communally going through a storm which some have described as “living in a science-fiction movie” or “Waking up and finding we are living in the nightmare”. Listen to what Isaiah 26:3 says: “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee”.
Lastly, we are told to maintain and to continue to practice these four principles. Vs 9: “Keep putting into practice all you learned from me and heard from me and saw me doing, and the God of peace will be with you.” This is not a one-shot “fix-all” kind of thing. Storms often don’t go away quickly and therefore we need on-going strength. And once the storm is over, we need to continue to trust in Him and remember who has brought us through the storm.
God has promised us that He will never leave us, nor forsake us (Heb 13:5). He will be with us every step of the way until we are finally at home with Him.
And so Paul reminds us this evening — even in the midst of the storm: (i) Find joy in the Lord; (ii) Focus on others and the needs of others; (iii) Pray instead of worrying and (iv) Fill your minds — fix on things — that will build you up and not tear you down. And the promise of scripture? “And the God of peace will be with you.”
Peace in the midst of the storm.
