THE EYE OF THE STORM
TEXT- Mark 4:35-41
INTRODUCTION
I guess there are great emotions when a huge hurricane is bearing down on you. I’m sure this is how the people felt in Honduras in 1979 when Hurricane Fife was on its way to their coast. The storm toke its toll on the people and their property. The storm resulted in 8,000 people killed. There is a lot of information about this storm and these people, but I didn’t find anything that said they were greater sinners than any other people in the world.
In 1900 the city of Galveston was the great city of the south. They were often called the New York of the south because of their great port and business district. There future appeared at the time to be the greatest city in the southern portion of the United States, but then came the eye of the storm. The hurricanes in those days had no name, but they were just as destructive. Galveston was destroyed and 6000 people were killed in the storm and their future was changed. This storm resulted in Galveston building a seawall that still stands today.
There has been tons of information about this storm and the people, but nowhere can I find that they were considered greater sinners than any other people of their time.
The Bible is full of information about storms and I’m sure most of you have read about them. Many of the storms were very violent.
We have storms and then we really have storms! It happens in the oceans of the Tropical Regions, and for us during the months of August to October. Sometimes a special type of storm develops when a Low Pressure area develops and the winds exceed 74 MPH and turns counter clockwise. It forms an eye of about 20 miles and a wall cloud of about 200 miles. It will move West, then turn away from the Equator and might reach wind speeds of 150 miles per Hour. Last year, I think we had about 11 of these and several landed on our coast. Three of these storms landed in Florida.
Now several weeks ago we had the most destructive hurricane in our nations history in terms of money. I don’t know about the lives lost, because they are still counting those. They say it will be about 150 billion dollars to put things back in order.
Now some people have decided that Hurricane Katrina not only had an eye, but that it was an eye directed by God to New Orleans because there was so much sin in that town. I’ve never been to New Orleans, but people who have, say that there was a lot of sin down there. I don’t doubt it, but there is a lot of sin in Whitehouse Texas.
One Preacher put the following message on their church sign, “ The Big Easy is the modern day Sodom and Gomorrah.” I’m sure most of you have seen the stir it caused on the television. Most seem to hate the sign and a few agreed with it. The preacher happens to be my next door neighbor up to a month ago when he sold his house. We lived next to him for 12 years.
I will not call his name, but several years ago he put up a sign on his front lawn that said, “Repent the End is near!” There are only a few of us in that neighborhood, so, I guess he meant it for us. Well the wind blew it down about 5 times and he gave up and took it down. I guess he decided there was no HOPE for us!
So the question before us this morning is, “Did God send the hurricane to destroy New Orleans because of so much sin, or was it just a natural occurrence?” From the scriptures can we really answer this question?
I ask several people, who I believe are very knowledgeable of scripture, they both said they thought maybe God did, but both said they could not really prove it by scripture, and one added but I don’t believe you can prove me wrong by scripture either. I believe he is right about that, even I might hold a different viewpoint.
Now, I could just end this sermon with the answer of, “I DON”T KNOW”, but I think there are some great lessons about God that can be learned about this storm, and other storms, like the one we read about in Mark 4.
SERMON
The first thing I want to look at is the mind of God. What do we know about the mind of God? Isaiah says
Isaiah 55:8, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.”
The Apostle Paul said in Romans 11:33-34, “Oh, the depths and riches of both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways.” 34- “For who has know the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor?”
So, in order to always know what God’s action might be we would have to completely understand how he thinks, but the Bible says we will never be able to do that! You see, the only thing we know about God is what He chose to reveal to us, and the only place we can find that is in the Bible. We had better watch out for people who say that God spoke directly to him.
The second thing I want to know concerns the POWER of GOD. Does God have enough power to send a hurricane to destroy a city?
AMOS 3:6, “If a calamity occurs in a city has not the Lord done it?”
God has the power to destroy a city and anything else He wishes to destroy. After all He created everything, so it is his right. When we consider that God had the power to speak the world into existence, then He has the power to bring His wrath upon the earth and all mankind anytime He wishes, where we understand or not!
To prove this we only have to read in the Book of Genesis, where God brought the worst storm in the HISTORY of the WORLD. We know why, because the Bible tell us in the Book of Genesis.
God brought this storm because of sin, because of the people and their evil ways. The only people who survived was Noah and his family because, “Noah found GRACE in the EYES of the Lord.”
Some say that New Orleans is the modern day Sodom and Gomorrah, and they labeled this city as a city of sin. We can read about those two cities in Genesis, and in Chapter 19, God tells Father Abraham that he is going to destroy those cities because their sin was great. Abraham begins to bargain with God to not destroy those cities because his nephew, Lot, lived in Sodom. Abraham asked God, if 50 righteous souls could be found there would he spare the city, and God said he would. Abraham eventually worked God down to 10 righteous souls found in the city, and God said that he would spare this sinful city if only 10 righteous people could be found. God destroyed the city, because not 10 righteous people could be found. He told Lot and his family to leave and then He rained down fire and brimstone. Later on in Matthew 10, when Jesus sent his disciples out to the cities of Israel with His message of the coming of His kingdom, He said any of the cities that rejected them that it would be worst for them than Sodom and Gomorrah.
I don’t know how many righteous men where in New Orleans, but with all the churches in and around that city, it’s hard to believe that 10 righteous souls could not be found. When one man told me that New Orleans was destroyed because it was a wicked city, I ask about Las Vegas, and he said, “They are just as bad.” I told that I was sure about New Orleans but if a hurricane destroys Las Vegas, I would sure stand up and take notice of that, considering how far from the coast they are.
ANOTHER QUESTION MIGHT BE, “ IS TRAGEDY AND SUFFERING BOUGHT ON BY SIN?”
Well, if we go back to the Garden of Eden, we find that tragedy and suffering for mankind began there. When sin entered into the world, mankind would live out his existence in a fallen world because sin separates man from God. Since sin entered into the world man brought this life on himself. We are all Adams child because as the Apostle Paul says we all have sinned. There is no one among us that is righteous, not I or anyone else is without sin.
Some people assume that when we suffer that it is because of our sin. I know that some children suffer because of the sins of their parents, like crack babies. But does this rule always hold true?
I don’t think we have to look any further than the story of Job to see that this is not always true. Do you remember the story of Job? Job suffered more than any of us probably ever will in our lifetime, and his friends were trying to help this old man by figuring out why!
One of his friends decided that Job was suffering because on a sin or some sins he had committed. He said, “Job, if you will just confess up God will forgive you and you will be fine.” Job said I don’t know of any great sin in my life, and his friend said there had to be one.
In John 9 we read about a blind boy and Jesus’ disciples ask him why he was born blind, if it was because of his sin or his parents sin. Jesus said, “Neither one.”
JOHN 9:3, “Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in Him.”
We, like Jesus’ disciples, don’t really understand the mind of God. God uses people and things in our life so that it might display His glory. We probably never think about when he is doing it!
Some people might ask, “ why was God punishing this blind man, when he nor his parents, had done anything to deserve it?” I personally don’t know if the blind boy was suffering. I remember Fanny Mae Crosby, who wrote more of the songs we sing in Church than anyone else said, ‘I’m glad I was born blind because I have achieved much more for God than I ever could have with sight.” But I do know from the Word of God we can know that Christians will suffer in this fallen world.
Listen to the following scriptures from the New Testament.
The Apostle Paul told young Timothy, “ suffer with me as a good soldier. The Bible says we will suffer as Christians. God chooses not to always protect us from this fallen world and what goes with it. Can He? He can when he wants to. We can ask and that is perfectly OK, but God decides what is best to bring us more into the image of His Son.
THE NEXT QUESTION CONCERNS LUKE 13:1-5
Luke 13-1-“Now on the same occasion there were some present who reported to Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.”
2- “And Jesus said unto them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate?”
3- “I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
4- “Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem.?”
5- “I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
Some people are killed unjustly and some people die in accidence, but that does not imply they were any greater sinners than anyone else. Some people are not murdered, and some people do not die in accidence, but that does not imply they were any better than anyone else.
This passage in Luke 13 does say there is something that leads to the greatest tragedy that can happen to a person and that is a failure to repent leads to perishing. What worst calamity could happen to man?
WE NEED TO REMEMBER ROMANS 8
Romans 8:26, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”
THE IMPORTANCE OF PREPAREDNESS
All through the history of mankind, since his fall in the Garden of Eden, man has faced all sorts of calamities. The smart people prepared for them.
How did Noah prepare for the flood that was going to destroy all those on the earth? It was simple, he heard the word of God and he simply OBEYED. God brought him and all his family through the storm.
How did Moses survive the last plague God brought on the Egyptians. God was bringing the death angel to kill all of the firstborn man and animal. God gave Moses the instructions on how to avoid the calamity, and Moses simply OBEYED. He shared this good news with the Children of Israel and they to came through the calamity. They all were prepared by following God’s Word.
What did Esther do when all of her people were about to be put to death in Persia? She prayed to god, and had all the others pray to God, she then approached the storm with courage and faith in God. We are subject to the Laws of Nature, sickness, pain and physical death. When will God deliver us? He will when He decides to, if He decides to. What should we do? We should pray, prepare, have courage, have Faith, trust in God, and Obey.
Now, we call this spiritual preparation, but since God gave us a brain to use, I guess we could use it and do what we could. How could this destruction have been less, and lives saved. Well, I’m not an expert, but living in a city that is located below sea level doesn’t sound like a place I want to be, unless it is protected.
I guess the sea wall could have been built taller and stronger. I guess people could have left when they were told, even If they had to walk, if they could walk. They had 2,000 buses parked at schools that were ready to be used to get people out, but the order was never given to put them on the street. This would have moved 1,000’s of people to higher ground.
You Know this alone makes me ask a very good question, Was God sending that hurricane to New Orleans, or was there a bunch of people standing in the way? We have the power of choice, so, did we make some bad choices? Was this God doing this or man doing it to themselves?
Some people ask, ‘Where was God when all this happen”, and my answer is the same place God has always been. He hasn’t moved or changed. I believe he was doing the same thing He always does, taking care of His people.
MATTHEW 7
We can find some good advice in God’s word for this situation. It is found in the old Sunday School song we use to sing taken from Matthew 7: 24-29
Matthew 7:24-29, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, maybe compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.”
25-“And the rain fell and the floods came, and the wind blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.”
26- “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.”
27- “The rain fell, and the floods came, and the wind blew and slammed against that house; and it fell---and great was it’s fall.”
28- “When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching;’
29- “for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.”
Now, if we read this is then we know that it is excellent Spiritual advice, and if you think about it, that is excellent advice for our everyday life on earth. Being supported by the ROCK rather than the sand.
CONCULSION
If we go back to our text, Jesus stilled the storm that was scaring them and said, “You of little faith.” Why do you think He told them that? I believe he meant that they should have faith in the one they were with. They should have faith in the one greater than the storm. Do we have Faith in the one that is GREATER than the storm? Storms are storms and God is God!
