I sat all afternoon at the drive thru teller window and I watched as the sky changed and the wind blew progressively stronger and more frequent. The whole time I wanted nothing more than to go stand in the field that lies behind my job and let the wind envelope me. I’ve seen this on movies. Normally when this happens in movies the character wrapped in the wind is left with, what the audience can infer is, a feeling of comfort, peace, and promise of hope. I want to feel all three of those things.
When I got off I came and sat outside. As the wind blows about my hair and presses against me my mind somehow focuses and my nerves calm. I take a minute to just look around and ask God to show me how to feel and how to face what lies before me. So I watch and I wait and this is what I see …
The trees dance and I’m convinced if they could up root themselves to seek shelter from the upcoming rain, they certainly would. After all, this is what I want to do. But then again the trees need the rain like they need the sun. They take the good with the bad and they stand through it provided they are rooted in a firm and reliable foundation. I am reminded as the wind hits again that just like the trees I am anticipating a storm. I can feel it, see it, and smell it. I am afraid and I will admit to being weakened and wanting nothing more than to pull up my roots and seek shelter. But God, creator of all things, knows that I need both the rain and the sun to grow. And since I am firmly planted in Christ, He will be my strength and sustainer as the storm passes through.
It is through these great storms and trials that our perseverance is tested and our endurance tried. Will we still praise His name and lift high His crown as the rain comes down? Will the testing of our faith reveal our steadfastness or our fickleness? James says to count it all joy when you meet trials of various kinds for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And that to let steadfastness have its full effect so that we may be perfect and complete lacking nothing. God is very much present in our times of trouble but He doesn’t remove us from our hardships or heartaches because through them WE have the chance to grow.
Even as I remember James and I’m typing this I can imagine what you’re thinking because it’s creeping up on me too. It’s thoughts like “What if I am not strong enough to go through these trials, What if I am too weak, I don’t think I can do it, I'd rather hide out and wait”. Praise God because He then reminds me of Paul in 2nd Corinthians who wrote that he pleaded with the Lord to take away His burden and Christ said to him “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
There it is. I don’t have to fear the storms or the trials. They are necessary for the testing of my faith and production of steadfastness. And I don’t have to fear being too weak because Christ grace is sufficient and His power is made perfect in weakness. As I am finishing all this up I notice the sky has grown darker with clouds. Ominous as the surroundings are I sit here in the calm before the storm thanking Him for all the comfort, peace, and promise of hope I have in Him. Bring on the rain.
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