GOD SPEAKS OUT OF A STORM
Dr. Tom Doubt, Senior Pastor
Four Mile Creek Baptist Church
[Sunday after Hurricane Isabel]
BACKGROUND:
A. Illustration: When I was a youngster, I thought my aunt Isabel was an exciting and interesting character.
1. The adults in our family described her in other terms, like “unpredictable” or “uncontrollable.”
2. In all likelihood there were elements of my perception and the adult view in Aunt Isabel’s personality.
B. Three days ago Hurricane Isabel blew through our community.
1. The personification of that storm may well have been exciting for some. Many would agree that it was unpredictable & uncontrollable.
2. Falling trees, loss of electricity, damaged homes, and uprooted lives were everywhere in our community. What happened to you, though, was probably a little different than what happened to Kathie and me.
3. In the back of all of our minds were questions like “why did that happen to them and not to me?” We had 15 trees uprooted in our yard; 3 fell against the edge of the garage. A neighbor up the street had only two trees fall, but both penetrated the room into their bedroom.
4. The inevitable comparisons began. Someone in the church even joked that the amount of damage was inversely proportional to how good you were. Such humor would not have been a joke to an old fellow in the Bible named Job.
C. The book of Job was written in the patriarchal period.
1. God permitted Job to be tested by Satan. God allowed bad things to happen to Job.
2. The Lord also allowed a hurricane to come through Richmond. We could watch portions on TV as if it were a surreal movie. But when it affected us directly, it was very real.
3. Like Job, the devastation was personal when it happened to us. We bear our human suffering with a mixture of human frailty and justification. Well-meaning friends and voices from the media offer words that compound our anxiety.
4. Comfort & understanding come only when we hear God speaks out of the storm.
D. Notice the progression of events that occurred in Job’s storm.
1. Raiding parties killed his servants and livestock (1:15)
2. A house collapses on 7 sons & 3 daughters (1:19)
3. Job is afflicted with boils (2:7)
4. Three friends come to Job (2:11). Initially, they practice good pastoral care by remaining silent for 7 days.
5. Then each speaks and challenges Job’s integrity on several fronts.
6. Job replies, but they cannot answer Job because he was righteous in his own eyes (32:1).
7. Elihu, a young man, gets angry at Job for justifying himself.
8. At last, God finally speaks and Job comes to his senses. When the Lord does speak, it is not in the quiet of prayer time. Rather, God speaks right out of the storm.
Read Job 38:1
INTRODUCTION:
A. Living through a hurricane offers a progression similar to that of Job
1. Personal experience tempts us to think we are worse off than we really are. In the midst of the storm we are isolated from friends & neighbors. So when a tree falls on our house we tend to forget that trees are falling on other homes.
2. As we begin to hear others tell of their experiences we are a bit confused as to why something happened to us. How can the radio state that the worst of the storm has passed when there is a gapping hole in our roof?
3. Days and weeks pass that further test us. Why didn’t the utility company do more? Why is there electricity across the street, but none in our house? Why is the guy in front of us buying the last 3 bags of ice?
B. This morning in the midst of our thanksgiving of having a church to be in after the storm, we need to reflect on what we could learn from being like Job.
1. Job was brave in distress.
2. He was valiant in enduring his afflictions.
3. He was a notable example of passive fortitude in the midst of crises.
4. Most importantly, Job came to realize that he could not justify himself, his faith, or his actions on his understanding. Rather, He had to completely trust in God and His wisdom.
THEME: Even in the most desperate circumstances of our life God speaks to us. God employs unique ways to get our attention, often speaking right out of the middle of our storm. Yet, when He speaks, we can trust Him fully. Be aware of the who, when, how, why, and what of that communication.
MESSAGE:
A. WHO speaks out of the storm is the Lord Himself.
1. God speaks to us in one way or another. Often it is so unique that man may not initially perceive that God is trying to tell them something.
2. Who could perceive that Job’s losses had a divine purpose?
3. Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar spoke like wise old men. Yet their words were not the Divine pronouncement, even though they spoke first.
4. Who could perceive the impact of Isabel? Who could speak to us as the winds howled & the rain pelted?
5. Illustration: That Thursday evening, just as Isabel was reaching the peak of her fury, we were watching TV news of the storm. A reporter, standing on the beach at Nags Head, rain hat blowing all over the place, was telling us how the high waves were producing a storm surge.
a. Reporters are obliged to speak from the storm, to give authenticity to their report.
b. While interesting, the report was not particularly relevant to our situation some 90 miles inland.
c. Suddenly we lost power. The storm was howling & trees started falling. Kathie & I prayer for our safety & the safety of our neighbors. Now the storm was very personal.
d. God spoke to our hearts: fear not the terror of the night (Ps 91:5).
B. So WHEN does God speak?
1. Job’s reply to each of his 3 friends silenced them, yet he could not convince them of his integrity.
2. Elihu silenced Job, yet could not get him to admit his own failing.
3. After all the humans had their say, then God spoke as the last & final authority of the truth.
4. After hearing all the weather reports, buying all the bottled water & batteries, then God spoke. Regardless of forecasts & preparations, the storm came. Then God spoke. And He did not even wait until it was over. He spoke to you & me when the winds exceeded 80 mph, the rain was horizontal, and trees were dropping like their leaves do in the fall.
5. Illustration: The first 2 trees that fell at our house hit the garage. I went outside to get my chainsaw out of my truck to cut some limbs to get our generator in position.
a. Kathie followed me outside. I turned and yelled for her to get back in the house.
b. Returning with the chainsaw, I saw a tree topple where she had been standing.
c. My prayer probably lasted only 3 seconds, but it was as intense as anything I have ever prayed. “Oh God, please let her be OK.”
d. With a flashlight I began probing under the fallen tree. No Kathie. Then I looked toward the house & saw her waving to me through a window.
e. I think that was only the 2nd time in 25 years that she ever listened to me. The 1st being when I asked her to marry me! Nevertheless, I praised the Lord when He spoke to Kathie.
6. When has God spoken to you in the midst of your storm? Probably after every one else has offered their opinion. Only then, when viable options were no longer evident, did the Lord provide His wisdom.
C. Better still, HOW did the Lord speak to you?
1. Was it as a whirling wind, a cloud, and a light as He did in Ezekiel’s vision (Ezek 1:4)?
2. Perhaps it was as a powerful wind like Elijah experienced on Mount Horeb (1 King 19:11).
3. God’s way is in the whirling wind and the storm (Nahum 1:3). Just about the time you think all is lost, there is no hope, God speaks.
4. We do what we can to prepare & deal with oncoming storms. Then we experience God’s revelation. Winds remind us how helpless we are. Nothing can prevent loss of electricity. Then we are reminded of how much more powerful is our Living Lord.
5. Illustration: Thanks to good weather forecasting, we knew a hurricane was coming.
a. I made sure my chainsaw was sharp, we had food, we had gas for the generator.
b. Then God spoke from the eye of Isabel: “silly man, that will not be enough. Only faith will ride the storm.”
D. WHAT God has to say can have a life changing impact.
1. In chapters 38-42, God asks Job more than 70 questions.
a. He begins with questions pointing to Job’s ignorance & presumption to know God’s ways. God thoughts are not ours, nor are His ways our ways (Is. 55:8).
b. The Lord challenges Job to give proof that knowledge lies in his human words. There is no proof that can be offered that we know enough to question divine purposes.
2. Job realizes that it is he who has darkened the counsel; he has words without knowledge (Job 42:3), speaking of things he did not understand.
3. Job repented of his foolish complaints.
a. Humble faith & sincere obedience can see further than any philosophy, any way of life.
b. Trials of faith, like Job’s, can result in praise & honor being given to the Lord. Living through a hurricane is as much a trial of faith as Job experiencing loss of family and fortune.
4. What God says to us in the midst of any storm of life can transform us in remarkable ways. So what if a tree is on your house. Does it matter if you live by candle light & not the glow of a TV? Are you so well educated or wealthy that you can alter the course of a hurricane? In your dreams, or more correctly, in your nightmares.
5. God is not harsh when He speaks. He speaks fairly & honestly. When we listen, our lives can be forever changed.
TIME OF DECISION:
A. If we listen to how the Lord speaks out of storms like Isabel, we can see God at work.
1. We realize how little we know. How much we need to rely on divine wisdom.
2. Storms bring good and bad. We can take both and still proclaim “ the Lord be praised.”
3. In all things, God works for the good of those who love him (Rom. 8:28). Let storms like Isabel howl. They will not stop our love of God, and through it all we will find the blessings among the debris.
4. We can bear fruit in every good work (Col. 1:10), including those works that come from helping one another in a time of need.
5. We are blinded to those good works until we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord & Savior.
6. We are lame until we walk with a family of God like the body of Christ here at the Creek.
7. We are weak without the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love.
8. Today we gratefully praise God from whom all blessings flow, even as we remember His voice that called out from the bowels of Isabel.
