Day 5: Out of the storm
Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm (Job 38:1).
Our Father in heaven, "Be still," You tell us, "and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10). But in a world full of restlessness and motion, diversions and distractions, we have difficulty being still even in "normal" times. Even more so when storms arise— when, like the disciples, we are caught in furious squalls (Mark 4:37) and the waves and breakers sweep over us (Psalm 42:7).
But it was in the storm that You challenged the disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” (Mark 4:40). And it was in the storm that they understood that Even the wind and the waves obey [You]!” (Mark 4:41).
Job, hundreds of years before them, also heard Your powerful word out of the storm and gained understanding of who You are: “My ears had heard of You but now my eyes have seen You. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:5-6).
Lord, teach us to hear You, to see You, to know You in the storm. Help us to hear You above the roar of the winds and the waves, the torrent and the thunder. When the seas lift up their voice... their pounding waves, help us to discover that Mightier than the thunder of the great waters, mightier than the breakers of the sea— the Lord on high is mighty (Psalm 93:3-4).
Teach us to know, like never before, that the God who is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble (Psalm 46:1), is enthroned over the flood (Psalm 29:10). Help us to truly grasp, as Job did, and as the disciples did, that the Lord Almighty is with us... (Psalm 46:7).
And therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging (Psalm 46:2-3).
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