Living in the Eye of the Storm

                                                                                                                            

Aloha Dearest Family,

            My wife and I like to watch game shows and one morning we were watching “Deal or No Deal” where the audience was really getting involved and yelling “take the deal!” to a woman who was offered a lot of money. I’m glad we have a volume control button for our TV so we can turn the volume down, but I’m sure it was plenty loud in the studio where this was being taped. Well, as I was watching, I noticed this mother holding a one-year old child. Despite all of the loud commotion in the studio, she turned to her mother and went to sleep in her arms. Imagine how safe and secure she must have felt for her to just fall asleep in the midst of all that yelling and screaming.   

   

            What if I told you that we can experience this same kind of peace and comfort in the midst of seemingly endless chaos in our lives. We call this “living in the eye of the storm”, and it is available to us today. God wants us, His children, to live this way. I offer the following examples:

            In the book of Acts, we read of a time in the early days of the church when King Herod killed James, the brother of John, with the sword (Acts 12). They were two of the twelve Apostles. When Herod saw that it pleased the people, he arrested Peter also and kept him in prison until the next day when he would also be executed. We read in verse 6,

“And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains: and the keepers before the door kept the prison.” 

Peter knew that James had just been killed. He had been a partner in the fishing business with James and knew him well. Furthermore, Peter was kept in prison knowing that this might be his last night alive, and yet the scripture said that he was sleeping between soldiers. That is what I call having peace. He wasn’t shaken with fear or worry. He must have been trusting in God to keep him safe. If you know the story, you know what happened next. God sent His angel to spring Peter out of prison.

            David was a man who even though he was anointed to be the next king of Israel, spent many years of his life running and hiding from King Saul who was bound and determined to kill him. You would think that David would have had many sleepless nights worried for his safety, but in Psalms 4: 8 he writes, 

“I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.” 

Remember that the psalms were written as songs to be sung. I’m sure David sang songs of God’s safety and security much throughout his life. Peter and David were “living in the eye of the storm”.

            One great word to learn in regards to this topic, is the word “refuge’. A refuge is what you turn to for safety and comfort. 

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.” 

Talking about living in the eye of the storm.  Because we have God, our Father, as our refuge and strength we don’t need to be concerned with what is happening around us. The key to having God’s protection is first draw close to God and dwell there. It says in James, 

“Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you…” (James 4:8a) 

When we draw nigh to God and build a personal relationship with Him, we can come to fully rely on God for everything - our safety and comfort, our health, our finances and family relationships, to name just a few. Remember, God is huge and powerful – nothing gets past Him to get to us.

            When Hurricane Irma came through, I had to spend a couple of days at work. When I was finally able to come home, I found my wife sitting and enjoying the weather. During the storm she had spent her time praising God and fellowshipping with Him. She had a marvelous time watching it all from our twelfth floor wall of windows. She was truly living in the eye of the storm. This is easy to do when we know how much God wants to fellowship with us. 

“For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38 and 39) 

When we walk in continual fellowship with God, we know for a surety that nothing can ever pull us away from Him. We can just climb up into our Daddy’s arms and know that we are safe.

                                                Love Always, Ray