“The Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.” Exodus 14:14 (NLT)
Oh, the thunderstorms! As with any nighttime storm, it is guaranteed that one of our five children will make their way into our bedroom afraid. Climbing into our bed they seek comfort and reassurance that all will be okay during the storm.
Recently, during one of these stormy nights, as I lay there cuddling our four-year-old, the Lord whispered to me, "I too am here waiting to comfort you in your 'storm' child. It is not yours to fight." I wept upon hearing my Heavenly Father and laid there cuddling my child even closer. An overwhelming warmth came over me as if I, too, was being held and comforted that night. Then just like my child, a calmness came over me, and I drifted off to sleep.
Like a good 'ole thunderstorm with lots of lightning, thunder, and rain that frightens a child, the 'storms' of life can frighten us if we are unwilling to let the Lord fight for us. Life can present many 'storms' in our lives -- the 'strike' of death, the 'clap' of severe illness, or the 'pouring rain' of unemployment or a struggling marriage.
Have you ever been in such a 'storm'? If you have, you know the pain, the anxiety, and the fear that one feels. How do you go through another day when your loved one has died? How do you tell your children that you have cancer and the future is uncertain? How do you put the financial pieces together when the job market is dry? How do you still show love and choose forgiveness when the pain is deep inside of a struggling marriage?
How do we journey through the ‘storms’ of life? Well, God sheds some light on our questions in Exodus 14:14, where he defines what His role is versus ours. His role is to fight for us. Our role is to stay calm. Wait?! What?! He wants us to be calm while our world is falling apart, and we have no way of knowing when this 'storm' will end? Yes!
The question to ask is, do we really trust Him to fight for us? Do we trust that in His perfect timing and in His perfect way, He will restore the wreckage that the 'storm' left behind? If we truly trust Him to fight for us, then we can surrender it all to Him as an act of worship. Then, we can climb up into our Heavenly Father's arms, and there, under His wings of shelter, we will find true calmness.
So, breathe in His promise of rescue and exhale the pain.
Breathe in His perfect protection and exhale anxiety.
Breathe in His unfailing love and exhale fear.
Breathe in and find calmness.
