Ron's Insights 2013

The One Who Binds the Storm  

by Ron Susek                                                                                                                                                                           ©Golden Quill Publications

      Swans glide across placid lakes with beauty and grace, adding quietude to the day. You will never find them, however, on turbulent waters during violent storms that lash out with threatening winds and menacing waves. They wisely seek shelter from danger.

      Likewise, we have no business exposing ourselves to the storms of life as though we can overtake them. No one can build an adequate shelter to protect them from every storm. That is the Lord's work. In fact, He is the shelter. The person who learns to abide in Him will be graced withunflappable peace.

      When we allow storms to disrupt our souls it is evident that we have lost confidence in the Holy Spirit. He is always found supporting those who refuge in the command: "Be still, and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10). Heaven's grace falls upon those who shelter in that truth, producing quiet confidence until each storm abates.

      At times, we allow the storms to define us by drawing us into their tempestuous behavior. We flail about fighting wind with wind, wave with wave and fury with fury; all the while outmatched and eventually overcome.

      Storms never last. Even storms of human conflict that rage for centuries are but a moment in contrast to eternity. Above all storms the sun always shines and deep below them the fish always swim. God's height and depth cannot be shaken by any storm.

      What is the secret, then, of those who endure? The psalmist wrote: "Blessed are all who take refuge in him" (Psalm 2:12).

      No swan can overpower a storm by violently flapping its wings against the winds. It would soon be exhausted and would drown. Instead, it gathers its strength by sheltering and depending upon a greater force to bind the winds, still the waves and quiet the howl.

      Isaiah saw the God of the ages doing this very thing when he wrote: "Behold, a king will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule in justice. Each will be like a hiding place from the wind, a shelter from the storm, like streams of water in a dry place, like the shade of a great rock in a weary land" (Isaiah 32:1-2).

      If you are in the middle of a storm, take refuge in this: "The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone" (Psalm 34:7 and Psalm 91:12).

      Some storms enrich while others erode. The same is true of your life and mine. All the same, be like the swans that take refuge to reemerge into a new day of beauty and grace. In so doing you will glorify God and see his power to speak into a raging storm, "Peace, be still." 

Immanuel: God is with you!

Your friend,

Ron