Where would you prefer to be? Right in the middle of the raging turbulence of a storm, or in the calm and peacefulness found in the eye? Of course the answer is quite easy to assume. It’s in the eye of the storm. What is actually happening in the eye of the storm? Not much of anything. As a storm is swirling around in a circular motion, there is an axle in which the storm is rotating on. It’s not a literal axle, but let's just imagine. As the outer spiral of a storm spins at a high velocity, practically destroying anything in its path, in the eye of the storm ,is where a calmness is found. In the eye, it’s almost as if there is no storm at all. Oh yes, there are winds and rain in the eye, but it's nothing like in the outer spirals of the actual storm itself.
As you live in this life facing all of its ups and downs, all of its heartaches and pitfalls, and all of life's storms, where do you find yourself? Are you in the raging turbulence of life's storms trying to battle them alone, or are you in the eye of the storm with Jesus?
For those who do not know Jesus, those who do not have a close, personal relationship with him, those people are in the outer spirals of the raging storms of life. These people are the ones that face all of life's problems alone. They try to work things out for themselves by arguing, fighting, taking and /or dealing drugs, getting arrested and thrown in jail, getting divorced, abusing children, abusing themselves, losing their jobs, losing their will to live, and in some cases committing suicide. Unfortunately, many of these type of people never reach the eye of the storm and never find that peace and calmness that they can have with Jesus in the midst of their storms.
But what about those that do know Jesus? Those that do have a personal relationship with him. Where are they? They are in the eye of the storms of life. You see, that is where Jesus is. He is in the calmness of all storms.
You see, Jesus never said in his word that once someone began living for him, that all of their cares and worries, trials and temptations, and raging storms would all come to an end. It’s going to be smooth sailing from here, all the way to heaven. No, he never said that. But what he did say, was that he would never leave us or forsake us. That means that no matter what you are going through, if you have a relationship with Jesus, then he is there with you, and if he is there then you should have peace with you as well. For where Jesus is, there you will find peace. For Jesus is the peace-giver.
If Jesus is with us through the midst of our storms, then why do we sometimes react to our storms the way that those do, that do not know him? Have we somehow slipped into the inner spirals of the storm and began to battle them ourselves? Have we lost our confidence in Jesus? Do we sometimes forget how he arose from sleeping on the boat with the disciples, calmed the wind and the waves, setting the storm at ease? Are we of little faith?
What we must understand, is that we are going to go through storms in our lives. Some storms are physical through sickness, ailments, pain, or disease. Other storms can be financial with job loss, endless bills to pay, unstable work, or even unexpected bills to pay which come possibly due to emergency situations. Still, other storms are mental. These are through the bombardments of thoughts of carnal, fleshly, lustful, greedy, materialistic desires, that feeds upon our emotions from a point of temptation.
But do we or anyone else have to face and go through these storms alone? No, we don’t. No matter what we may think, the only way we can ever get through our storms safely, is to go through them in the eye of the storm where Jesus is. Those that do not choose to climb aboard the boat of safety that Jesus is in, will continue spinning in the spirals of life's storms. If we stay in the boat of safety with Jesus where his peace and calmness are, then he can use our storms to strengthen us and help us to grow closer to him.
There is a sense of hope and confidence in God when you are in the eye of the storm. The reason, because of what you have seen God do in the past, from helping you, changing you, and delivering you from your past storms and calamities. This allows you to have faith in God and to know that he will do it again.
Have you ever worried about having enough money to pay your bills by their due dates? Did you expect the worst and then it never happened? Did you finally get the money to pay the bills without it causing you a problem with you creditors? Probably all of us have been in that situation more than once.
But did Jesus sit back and do nothing? Did you remember that he is Jehovah-jireh, which means that God will provide? If you did and if you believed that he would help you, then he did! Right? Of course he did! That is what he does for those that are in the eye of the storm where he is. You see, those that are in the eye of the storm are God's children, and to be in the eye, means that God's all-seeing eye is watching out for his children as they go through their storms with him by their side.
As we stay in the eye of the storm, there will be times that God will calm the storm around us, and allow us to blow through that storm without difficulty. But there are other storms that he will not calm for us. Those are the storms that he allows us to go through. But in those storms he calms us down, so that he may work his plan in us during that particular storm.
We must remember what Paul wrote in( Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose).
If we are God's children, then we should be in the eye of the storm. But if we are not in the eye, then we have somehow allowed our storm to consume us back into the raging spirals of the storm, where we try to handle it ourselves. If all things work together for good as Paul wrote, then that means all of the good times, all of the bad times, and all of the storms in our lives will work together in God's plan for our lives.
Where are you in life? Are you in the storm with all of its destruction in your path? Would you like to get into the eye of the storm where the peace and calmness lies? If you do, then give your life completely over to Jesus and take that one step from the raging spirals of your storm into the peacefulness and calmness that lies with Jesus, in the eye of the storm.
Jan 21,1998
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