Four Questions to Ask Yourself When Going Through a Storm

Storms in Paradise -®2013 Carl Milner No_12

You're going to go through a storm...

There is no way around it. At some point in your life, you are going to go through a storm. It doesn't matter if you're doing everything right or if you make your living causing trouble. 

In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. - Matthew 5:45 

Since we know that storms are going to come, we must decide now how we are going to handle the storms when they come. If we wait until we are in the middle of the storm before we start thinking about how we are going to handle the storm, we'll be in trouble because that's too late. I'm certain that pilots think about storms and are trained on how to handle them before they ever take off in an airplane.

That being said, here are some questions you should ask yourself when entering a storm.

1. Who placed me in this storm?

In other words, you need to answer the question, am I Peter or am I Jonah? If I'm Peter, and this is a situation like Mark 4, then I am in this storm because Jesus commanded me to get on a boat and cross a sea. I'm in this storm because I'm following the will of God and for some reason (that we will address later) He needs us to go through this storm.

If I'm Jonah, then I am there because I am running from God's will. Jonah's sin wasn't just that he wouldn't preach what God told him to preach; it was that he was not a good steward of what God gave him. When we mishandle what God has given us (time, finances, talents, etc), then a storm is sure to come and the only way to get through it is through a course correction.

2. Where is Jesus?

This probably should be the first question we ask ourselves. Is He asleep on the ship (Mark 4)? Is He walking on the water (Matthew 14)? In Mark 4:36 NLT the Bible says that "other boats followed" them across the sea. I often wonder what happened to those ships that didn't have Jesus aboard. The point is, when a storm arises, we must find Jesus! The Devil would like you to think that there are times when Jesus is nowhere to be found but that is a lie. You can always find Jesus in prayer, in His word, in worship, and in His preached word.

3. What is the purpose of the storm?

Jesus never allows anything to happen without a purpose. (And He will always get the glory in the end.) What's the purpose of your storm? What is God trying to teach you? In order to find the most basic reason for a storm I invite you to look at the first storm God ever sent in the days of Noah.

And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die. - Genesis 6:17

Yes, you read that correctly. Jesus sent the first storm for the same reason He sends every storm -- to destroy all flesh. Jonah ran from God and the storm came to destroy his flesh. Jesus told the disciples after He calmed the storm that they were fearful and had no faith (see Mark 4:40). Fear and doubt are products of our faith and the storm was sent to destroy those parts of the disciples.

God told Noah that "every thing that is in the earth shall die." This is why we must strive to live and walk by faith and separate ourselves from the earth. The more of us that is in the earth, the more of us that'll have to die in the storm.

4. What is on the other side of the storm?

The final question and its answer is what gives us the strength to go through the storms of life. For Noah, the end of the storm brought a new world full of faithful people and a promise in the form of a rainbow. For Job, the end of the storm brought restoration. For Jonah, the end of the storm brought fulfillment of his purpose in this world and a city ready to repent.

In Mark chapter 4 the storm ends and so does the chapter. However, it only ends because that is where the folks who put together the Bible decided it would end. When Mark penned those words the story just continues into Mark 5.

And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains: Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him. And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones. But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him. - Mark 5:1-6 KJV

When the storm ended, a man received his deliverance. If they had turned back...if they had never set out on that journey...if they had never faced their storm...this man might have never received his deliverance.

I know storms are hard and I understand that nobody ever asks for God to send them into a storm. However, by asking and answering these four questions, I hope we can learn that every storm has a reason, a savior, a purpose, and an end that brings an answer. Sometimes that answer is for us; and yet other times that answer is for somebody else.

Either way, as long as I can answer that second question, I know I'm going to be ok.

by Brett Clark