Peace in the Storm

This episode contains portions from the following programs:

"God Provides a Refuge"

"Marriage Lessons from the Book of Job"

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Dannah Gresh: One thing is sure in this life. No, I’m not talking about death or taxes, although those are sure things, too. I’m talking about storms. 

Several years ago, my husband was traveling. I was all alone when we had the most terrifying winter storm. It was snow—and lots and lots of it! Of course, that was sooo beautiful. But then the snow was followed by ice which was followed by rain. Well, I knew our farm animals needed to be locked in the barn. So I headed out on my own into two feet of what was now slush. The ice water filled my boots as I brought the horses in. The barn was flooding—not just with water, but ice water! I had to move all the critters to the right side of the barn—two horses in one stall, four goats, three llamas, and one fat donkey in the other. And then, I locked the doors tight . . . and prayed!

The next morning, the only casualty was my white rooster, bless his little poultry soul!

Welcome to Revive Our Hearts Weekend. I'm Dannah Gresh. I'm so glad you are with me today.

Now, of course there have been metaphorical storms in my life, too. What about you? Health? Finances? Stuck in a pattern of sin? Someone you love stuck in a pattern of sin?Maybe you're experiencing relational tension? They’re storms. 

But did you know you can have peace in the midst of a storm? It’s true. Listen to Isaiah chapter 26, verses 3 and 4. The prophet Isaiah says to God,

You keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on you,
because he trusts in you.
Trust in the Lord forever,
for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.

That’s one of my favorite passages in the Bible! Incidentally, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth actually talked about it earlier this week on our daily program, Revive Our Hearts. If you’d like to hear that episode, just look it up under the podcast tab at ReviveOurHearts.com.

You know, Nancy once taught on finding safety and strength in God’s arms. I want to play you part of what she said. In that series, she was teaching through Psalm 57. That’s a psalm David wrote when he was fleeing for his life from King Saul and hiding in a cave. I think that qualifies as a storm, don’t you? Here’s Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Verse one of Psalm 57, David says, "Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me." Let me just make a parenthetical note here: it's interesting that David didn't say, "O God, destroy my enemies."

Now, there are other passages where David prays that way. But in this case, he's praying, "Lord, it's me who's in the need of Your mercy. Have mercy on me in the midst of this storm." He's not crying out at this point for vengeance, for retribution or for victory over his enemies. He's just praying that God would have mercy on him in the midst of the storm.

Then he says, "O God, have mercy on me, for in you my soul takes refuge. I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed" (v. 1). He says, "I'm in the midst of a disaster," (v. 1,paraphrased) but he also recognizes that there will come a time when the disaster will pass. (By the way, that should be encouraging.)

You don't know how long your storm will last, but I can guarantee you that it will not last one moment longer than God intends that it should last. It will not be one degree more intense than God declares that it should be. God determines the intensity of the storm, the duration of the storm and the nature of the storm.

He [David] says, "The day is coming when this disaster will pass but until then, I'm going to run to God for refuge; 'in you my soul takes refuge'" (v. 1 paraphrased).

We've already seen that he was hiding in a cave from Saul. That was in the introduction to this Psalm. But he realizes that with Saul pursuing him, that cave isn't what he can count on to provide safety and refuge for him. He sees that the wings of God are a more sure refuge than any physical refuge he can find. So David takes refuge in God, not after the storm but in the midst of the storm.

It's easy to say after the storm has passed, "Okay, God, I'll take refuge in You." The challenge is to take refuge in God when the storm is right around you--when you're in the throes of the storm and the wind and the waves and the people and the circumstances are threatening to swallow you up. David says, "In the midst of the storm, before I can see the outcome, (by faith) I'm going to take refuge in God" (v. 1 paraphrased).

I believe this taking refuge in God for David was not a passive thing. It wasn't, I'm just going to lie around here and hope that God does something; and I'll just let Him take care of it all. I think David's taking refuge in God was an active choice. It's something we can do in the midst of the storm--to run into the wings of God. Proverbs 18 tells us "The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run into it and are safe" (Proverbs 18:10).

None of us will ever be able to forget the images of those Twin Towers at the World Trade Center being devastated by terrorist planes. We can still see in our mind's eye the towers as they're crumbling to the ground, and we picture the people who were running to make their escape out of those buildings.

You remember the pictures of people just fleeing, running in droves down the street—running away from that tower that everyone thought was a strong tower—the strongest among the strongest in the world. But there is no tower in the world that is strong enough to be our refuge when the attacks come if we haven't run to God.

He is the only tower that will be left standing after all men and nations and kings and wars have done their devastation. There is one place that will be left standing—one refuge—that's the refuge of God. The name of the Lord is a strong tower.

While we're running from other problems and other things that are crumbling around us, we need to be running to the strong tower that is the name of the Lord. And what is the name of the Lord? It's His character. It's His heart. It's His ways. When we don't know where else to turn, what else to do; when there are no more caves left to hide in.

Some of you are living in storms right in the midst of your home; it may be in relation to your marriage. Where do you run? David says, "I will take refuge in the wings of God" (Psalm 57:1, paraphrased).

There's a wonderful verse in Isaiah chapter 32 that says, "A man will be as a hiding place from the wind and a cover" (or a shelter) "from the tempest" (Isa. 32:2 NKJV).

Here's what Charles Spurgeon had to say about that passage. (I found these words so rich just as I was walking through a storm in recent days.) Spurgeon says

Who this Man is we all know. Who could He be but . . . the Lord from heaven, the Man of sorrows, the Son of Man.

What a hiding place He has been to His people! He bears the full force of the wind Himself, and so He shelters those who hide themselves in Him. Why do we stand in the wind, Spurgeon says,

When we may so readily and so surely get out of it by hiding behind our Lord? Let us, this day run to Him and be at peace. Our Lord Jesus, the glorious man, is a covert which is never blown down.

Dannah: I want to ask, "Where are you, where am I turning for refuge?" That’s the question for us today. Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth has been helping us see that, like David, we need to turn to God for the protection we need.

Truth be told, our flesh wants to look elsewhere for refuge. I mean, think of all the coping mechanisms we turn to. This is major fuel for many, many addictions. But the drugs or the food or the human relationships can’t provide the real protection we need. 

And it can get tricky for married couples, too. Am I right? The storms of life hit, and suddenly we can start turning on our spouse. Blaming. Feeling hurt. 

Jeff and Sarah Walton wrote a wonderful book for married couples called Together Through the Storms. Listen to the subtitle. Biblical Encouragements for Your Marriage When Life Hurts.

They’ve been through a few storms themselves, including the loss of jobs, chronic illness and pain, and a child with special needs. I asked Jeff and Sarah what they would say to a husband or wife who feels repulsed and angered by his or her spouse as a result of the storms that have hit their marriage.

Sarah Walton: One thing I just want to say is that we wanted to make so clear, and I’ve said this in a lot of conversations lately. There are a lot of listeners, I’m sure, that are feeling, either one . . . They don’t have a believing spouse, or maybe they’re just in a totally different space spiritually, or they’re not connecting with them. What was the biggest changing point in our marriage was realizing that my relationship with Christ was not dependent on Jeff. But my relationship with Jeff is dependent on Christ.

So there were points in our marriage where God allowed us to get to the point where I didn’t think we could heal from there. I didn’t think there was any way forward. Those were the moments where the Lord had to open my eyes to see that I couldn’t change Jeff’s heart. I couldn’t change the things that I wanted to change. The only thing I could do was bring my own heart before the Lord, and I started to do that.

That’s what I would encourage the spouse that is in that situation, because there were truly some things that I felt very hurt by. But I couldn’t force Jeff’s eyes open. No matter how many times I tried or how many different times I tried to rephrase things, it was not fruitful because I was trying to do it in my own strength. I was trying to force it myself apart from the Lord. And so God used that to open my eyes that I have to be looking for what I need first from the Lord.

God does desire healing for our marriage. That is a prayer He wants us to pray. So don’t run away from it because it looks impossible in your eyes. Turn your eyes to the Lord, the One who is the one that can change all hearts, the One that can do things that are far beyond what we could ever imagine. And He has done that in our marriage.

As He gave me the ability to start pouring out to Him the hurts I was feeling and the things I felt like I needed Jeff to see, but I knew I couldn’t force it, I started to pray, “Lord, change my heart where I can’t see it. I want healing in my marriage, but I don’t know how to move forward, so I’m asking You to change Jeff’s heart where You see fit. If he needs to see those things, change that. And if not, help me to rest in You.”

Dannah: Jeff, speak to the woman listening whose husband isn’t seeing how he’s hurting her, to the wife whose husband isn’t ready yet to make some of the brave, heroic sacrifices that. You’re a hero to me, as I hear this story. You’ve made some big sacrifices to care for Sarah and your children.

Talk to the woman who isn’t quite there yet. What word of encouragement would you give to her today about how she waits on the Lord for that?

Jeff Walton: I think the biggest thing we have to do is, first and foremost, take this to Christ in prayer and to rely on Him and to humbly come before Him and recognize that our dependence is in Him alone and not in our spouse.

As we try and wait for God to answer these questions, just remember that Jesus is glorifying Himself in the waiting, and also that Christ is still working in the waiting.

If there are seasons where it is just unanswered, and you feel like, “Why is this going on for so long? Why can’t he change or she change?” If you’re just going on in these seasons of despairing, I think if we can just remember that there is a purpose in it. I know it’s easy to say that and it’s so hard to live that out in the day to day.

Honestly, the only thing that can get you from one day to the next is to be in God’s Word and to rehearse His truths and His promises and to remember that He is the only one that can restore. He is the only one that can bring the water to bring growth. If we’re trying to just put that on our spouse and to nag and try to keep nudging them time and time again, we’re not going to get anywhere in our own strength.

So I think, just being active in our waiting. We can’t just sit back idly and expect God to change my heart or Sarah’s heart or the listener out there, and just expect it to happen overnight. It’s a process, and there’s a reason why He is delaying, because He wants to be glorified even greater in the end.

Thinking back on our story, God could have healed our son in the hospital when he was seven weeks old. He could have cleared up the infection, as we thought it was, and our life could have been the way we paved it out in our minds. When we first got married, we thought we would have ease and comfort and life would be good. We’d have our children, and, as you said, the white picket fence.

But because God has delayed, and even to today, we don’t have a diagnosis. Things have not relented. We still have days that are just very hard. We’re in those trenches, right alongside those that are listening. Sarah and I are not talking from the mountain top. We’re in the valley with you. I think that’s what we want this book to be—a resource for someone that is in that valley.

We’re not looking retrospectively because we’re empty nesters. We are really struggling alongside of you. So, cling to Jesus because He is chiseling away at you into making you into this beautiful picture of Christ if you let Him do that.

We have to have humility. We have to be dependent. We have to come to Him with our hands open and digging into His Word daily that He is the only one that will bring change.

Sarah: It makes me think of Romans 5:3–5, 

Not only that, we rejoice in our suffering, knowing that suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Ultimately, that’s where our hope has to stay. We want a good marriage. We want a healthy marriage. We want a loving marriage. We’re not always promised that. But we do know that the love of God is with us always. We do know that He is at work in our own hearts, no matter what is happening around us.

Jeff and I can both honestly say that we can rejoice in our suffering. We’re not always joyful about it. We’re not always smiling about it. But we can rejoice in it because, my goodness, God has done such an incredible work in our own hearts through it. And we have flailed our way through it. We have fumbled over ourselves through it. But it just makes us want to lift our eyes and praise the Lord to see what only He could have done in our own hearts. He’s the only one getting glorified here because we would not have done this on our own.

Jeff: We wouldn’t exchange any of our pain. Honestly, as painful as it has been, we would not exchange that for an easy road because we would rather be on the crooked road of pain and suffering, knowing that that leads to Christ, than being on the straight path of ease and comfort where Christ is not at the end of that.

So, encouragement for those that are listening is: cling to Christ. As we look beyond our circumstances, beyond our spouses, look to Jesus because nothing makes sense in the present time. But as we know that He is our end, that can give us patience, knowing that it’s not going to be easy, but we can endure because He is the one giving us that daily strength. So that’s where I think we can find joy.

Dannah: Ah, Jeff and Sarah Walton have some excellent advice for us—cling to Christ! Or as Nancy said earlier, turn to the Lord for your refuge. That’s how you’ll find peace in the midst of the storm.

Now, I should warn you, you might be surprised at how Jesus responds when you’re in a storm. I mean, sometimes God seems so unbelievably silent. This seems especially true in the storms of our life.

When you’re in a storm and God seems silent, it can be hard to remember to cling to Christ.

Don’t forget to remember.

We tend to do that in times of downpour. The disciples did. One day Jesus got into a boat with them, and said He wanted to go to the other side of a lake. Then, He fell asleep. That’s when a windstorm came down on them. It must have been a whopper, because the boat began to take on water. What started out as a merry version of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" turned into the theme song for Titanic . . . and Jesus slept right through it.

Feel familiar?

Let me read this story to you. It’s from Luke 8:22–25:

One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they set out, and as they sailed he fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger. And they went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm. He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?”

Okay, so the story seems to end well. But did you notice, in the meantime, the seasoned fishermen shook in fear! You better believe they woke the weary Teacher up: "Jesus, we’re dying! Don’t you care?"

He did care, and He told the wind and the raging waves so.

Then, He turned His attention back to the guys in the boat. He had something to say to them too. There in the calm of yet another miracle, He asks them, "Where is your faith?"

Not the most comforting thing to say to a few grown men who’d probably just lost their lunch about the time they lost their cool. But Jesus doesn’t stroke their egos, as we are prone to do. Instead, He cuts to the chase, essentially asking, "Did you forget who I Am? Did you forget who is with you?"

They had, in fact, forgotten who was with them. In spite of all the amazing things they had been witness to . . . Think about that. These men saw the miracles of Jesus, but they also cowered when a storm brewed.

Can you identify? I can. Been there. Done that. I want you to see something that I see in this passage. 

When Jesus stilled the wind and raging waters that day on the lake for the fearful fishermen, He used it to invite them to remember what they’d lost for a moment: their faith. 

Luke records that the Savior asked them: "Where is your faith?"

He didn’t ask: "Don’t you have any faith?"

He knew they had it. I imagine Him asking them this in the same tone He might have asked them, "Well, where were your raincoats? Don’t you think they could have been helpful in this situation?"

This was just the prompting they needed to remember. Their spiritual amnesia was erased. They turned to one another and said, "Who is this!? Even the winds and water obey him!"

The question is not answered, but one is implied: "God is with us!"

Whatever “wind” and “water” you’re facing in your storm, I assure you this: God is with you. Even if you’ve forgotten to remember that. Hold on to your faith, my friend. It comes in handy when you face life’s storms.

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I started today’s program talking about keeping our minds stayed on the Lord. Do you need some help with that? 

Can I recommend a book by Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth that will help you meditate on Jesus? It’s her newest book titled, Incomparable: 50 Days with Jesus. It’s devotional in nature, meaning it’s meant to help you grow in your relationship with the Lord. But it’s meatier than your average daily devotional. It’s a rich, deep dive into who Jesus is and what He came to do. I dare say that meditating on the truths in this book will help you find more peace in your storms than just about anything else. 

We’ll send you a copy of Incomparable as a thank you for your donation of any amount. You can give a gift by calling 1-800-569-5959, or go to ReviveOurHearts.com/weekend, and click on today’s episode. 

Next weekend, we’re going to explore the kindness of God. Sometimes we get a picture of Him in our minds that leaves out His kindness, His mercy, His steadfast love. I hope you’ll listen in.

Also, this week on Grounded our guest will be Hunter Beless. She’ll be sharing wisdom for how we use social media. You can watch Grounded live Monday morning at 9 a.m. Eastern on the Revive Our Hearts YouTube channel, or on Facebook live.

Thanks for listening today. I’m Dannah Gresh. We’ll see you next time for Revive Our Hearts Weekend.

This program is a listener-supported production of Revive Our Hearts, calling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.

*Offers available only during the broadcast of the podcast season.