Persevering through the Storm

This episode contains portions from the following programs:

"My Exceeding Joy"

"Does Jesus Care?"

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Dannah Gresh: Picture a tree. It’s flourishing. It’s healthy. It’s producing fruit like it’s supposed to. Did you know that you can be like that tree, even in the hardest of circumstances? You can! Today we’re going to talk about how.

Welcome, my friend! Pull up a chair. My name is Dannah Gresh, and this is Revive Our Hearts Weekend. 

Today I want to show you a passage in the Bible where it compares the person who is walking with God to a healthy, flourishing palm tree. That’s right! A palm tree. 

This month at Revive Our Hearts our theme is all about choosing gratitude . . . even when it’s hard. Because, let’s face it, things can be hard—really hard—sometimes. Just ask the victims of the hurricanes that hit Florida and Georgia and Tennessee and North Carolina last month. They know how hard it can be. 

Or, ask the new parents who are anxiously waiting to bring home their preemie from the NICU, and they’re pouring their hearts out to the Lord. But it’s touch-and-go for the baby. 

Or ask the widow who recently lost her lifelong friend. Her partner. Her husband of fifty-seven years.

Or ask the administrative assistant who found out last week that he’s being laid off.

Yes, life can be hard. The storms do rage. I’ll get to the verse about palm trees in a little while. 

But you know what? Christians have something in the midst of the storm that helps build perseverance and hope. 

Here’s pastor and author Paul David Tripp to explain. He was speaking at a conference for women sponsored by Revive Our Hearts. This is about a scene we find in Mark chapter 6. That’s where Jesus sent the disciples out in the boat, ahead of Him, and they encountered a terrible storm. 

Here’s Paul Tripp.

Paul David Tripp: God will take you where you haven't intended to go in order to produce in you what you could not achieve on your own. God will take you . . . and you . . . and you . . . and you . . . and me where we have not intended to go in order to produce in us what we could not achieve on our own. Do you know what the Bible calls that? Grace!

I think for many of us—and I've been here many times in my life—there are moments where I'm crying out, "Where is the grace of God?" And I'm getting it. But it's not a cool drink. It's not a soft pillow. Oh, I want the grace of relief and the grace of release, and I get those in pieces, but largely those are to come.

What I actually need is the transforming grace of refinement. It's grace! Sisters, we'd better become committed to encouraging one another and teaching one another and preaching to one another (get this terminology) the theology of uncomfortable grace.

Because very often, this side of eternity, the grace of God comes to me in uncomfortable forms. It's grace! It's grace! It's grace!

Back to your Bibles. The plot thickens. Verses 47–48:

And when evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land. And he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. 

Don't try this at home!

The minute Jesus steps His first foot on that water, you know this is Lord God Almighty, King of Creation. He can do anything He wants with His creation. This is the Lord! 

But there's something else you must observe. If all Jesus wanted to do was remove the difficulty, He wouldn't have had to take the walk.

All He would have had to do is say, "Peace be still." The wind would have died, the waves would have calmed, and the guys in the boat happily would have ridden the rest of the way across the Sea of Galilee to Bethsaida. The minute Jesus takes the walk, you know that He's not after the difficulty; He's after the people in the middle of the difficulty—that's what He's after.

Notice the scene now—Jesus now standing next to the boat. The storm is still going on; the waves are still crashing; the wind is still blowing; these guys are still in this situation, way beyond their strength, way beyond their ability, and way beyond their ability to solve. Nothing has changed in the moment, but now Jesus is in this moment with the disciples.

And although they don't recognize Him, although they're in the same panic, Jesus doesn't say this: "I've had it! I've taught you and taught you and taught you. I've revealed My glory over and over again. Get out of the boat. I'm getting new disciples!" (laughter)

That's what I would have done. "Out!" But not this One. Jesus speaks the most beautiful words that could ever be spoken. They are literally words that if understood and received will change everything about you and everything about your life. They're that amazing. I don't think the English translations do very well with this little statement, "Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid."

I'm deeply persuaded that what Jesus is doing is taking one of the names of God. He's saying to the disciples, "Don't you understand? The I AM is here. The I AM is here. The I AM is here—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Lord King Creator, the Sovereign One who holds everything together by the word of His power. The One on whom all the covenant promises rest. The I AM is here! The I AM is here. The I AM is here." It's impossible for you to ever be in the storms of life by yourself, because your life has been invaded by the grace of the One who is the I AM. (applause) The I AM is here.

Now, let me ask you a question. In this passage, when did Jesus start caring for the disciples? When He took the walk? When He stood beside the boat? When He spoke those beautiful words? No, no, no, no, no, no, no. The beautiful, tender, transformative care of Jesus began when He put them in the boat and sent them across the sea.

You say, "Paul, why?" Hear what I'm about to say. If you're taking notes, write it down—because sometimes you need the storm in order to see the glory. That's why. Sometimes you need the storm in order to see the glory. Sometimes it's only the deep and dark storms of life that put the glory of the Messiah and the kind of relief where I can now see it and I can now get it and I can say, "I'm okay, because this One has drawn me into eternal relationship with Him."

Sometimes you need the storm to see the glory. Oh, the care is not just Jesus' presence in the storm. The care is the storm!

Dannah: Wow! Paul David Tripp gave us some things to chew on there. Have you ever thought about the fact that we sometimes need the storm to see the glory? 

That puts things in a different perspective, doesn’t it? Way different! You can hear all of Pastor Tripp’s message when you go to ReviveOurHearts.com/weekend and click on today’s episode. It’s called “Persevering through the Storm.” The link is there to a series called “Does Jesus Care?”

In Romans chapter 5, the apostle Paul said this: 

Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame.

Did you catch the progression? Suffering produces endurance (or perseverance). That leads you to character and HOPE. Hope. Sweet hope. Not the wringing-your-hands kind of hope, but the confident, restful kind. It’s the kind of hope the writers of the psalms wrote about often.

Now, I don’t want you to forget about the flourishing palm tree. I have some really cool things to share with you about that. 

First, let’s hear from Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth. She was teaching on Psalms 42 and 43. Here she is, commenting on the last verse, which talks about hope.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth:

Why are you cast down, O my soul?
   And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God,
   For I shall yet praise Him,
   The help of my countenance and my God.

I want us to see in this session today, one final expression of faith as the Psalmist walks by faith instead of by sight.

By faith he’s already seen that God’s supply is sufficient to meet his need, and now by faith he anticipates God’s deliverance. He anticipates God’s intervention.

I want to focus on that phrase, “I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance, and my God.”

He’s saying that the day is coming—I don’t know when; I don’t know how long it will be—but I know that the time will come when God will deliver, when God will intervene in my situation. And in the meantime, I will hope in God.

In the meantime, I will trust confidently. I will rest in assurance that God knows what He’s doing. God determines the nature of the trial. He determines the extent of the trial. He determines duration of the trial. God is sovereign! So I hope in God because I know that in time God will intervene. In time, God will deliver.

I love that passage in Psalm 30, verse 5. It says, “Weeping may endure for a night.” Your night may not be just one eight-hour night, it may be an eight-month night or an eight-year night or years and years of darkness. But the Psalmist says, “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.”

You say, “Oh God, let it be morning!” That’s alright to say, but keep hoping in God until it is, and know that in God’s time and in God’s way, the morning will come. The joy will come. Even in the night, knowing that the joy is ahead, you can have joy now.

God is my exceeding joy. It’s not presence or absence of the storm that determines my joy level. It’s the presence of God. He is my exceeding joy, so I will be joyful in Him.

That’s exactly what the prophet Habakkuk says in chapter 3. “Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, though the labor of the olive may fail and the fields yield no food, though the flock may be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls”—that’s all sight. Though there’s no visible reward for your faith, though there’s no visible evidence that God is hearing or answering your prayers—“yet I will rejoice in the Lord” (vv. 17–18).

When there’s no visible means of support around me, when there’s no visible means for joy, yet I will be joyful because I have the Lord.

“Yet I will rejoice in the Lord.” I will have joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength, Habakkuk says. “He will make my feet like deer’s feet, and He will make me walk on my high hills” (3:19).

Do you see the faith there that anticipates God’s deliverance and God’s intervention?

So the Psalmist says that chorus one more time, “Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him the help of my countenance and my God” (Psalm 43:5).

Ladies, that needs to be the chorus of our lives. The stanzas have all kinds of other things in them. The stanzas of our lives have marriage problems and child problems and health problems and financial problems and internal and external problems and moves and job losses. Those are the stanzas of life.

You’ve got to keep coming back to the chorus, “Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him the help of my countenance and my God.”

That word hope is translated from a Hebrew word that means “to wait, to tarry, to hope, to expect, to be patient, to trust.”

Now, we don’t like the “waiting” part of hope, at least I don’t. I want to see the answer. I want to see the resolution. I want the problem to be solved. Just let me say again—that’s the way it is on TV, but that’s not the way it is in life.

Part of hoping is waiting. Some of you are hoping in God to deliver your marriage. Some of you are hoping in God to deliver a son or daughter who is in bondage to the evil one. Wait on the Lord.

You say, “How long do I have to wait?”

I don’t know. Just keep waiting!

But you’re not just waiting for your husband, you’re not waiting for your son or daughter, you are waiting for God. If you were waiting for your husband or your son or daughter or your financial situation or your health to change, you might not have any hope.

But your hope is in God, and that’s why you have hope. Hope in God, wait, cling to Him, be patient, trust in Him while you’re waiting. “Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him.”

That word praise is translated from a Hebrew word that means “to use the hands, to revere or to worship God with extended hands.” It’s an expression of thanks to God. It means “bless the Lord.”

You say, “In the midst of my storm? In the midst of my depression? In the midst of my doubt? In the midst of my fears? In the midst of my trouble? I’ll praise the Lord when I get out of it.”

No! Praise the Lord while you’re still in it—knowing that you will praise Him in the long run, so praise Him now.

“I will yet praise God.” Lift up your hands to the Lord. Give Him thanks; bless Him; revere Him; worship Him. Say, “Lord, You are great. You are good. You are God. You have not changed. You are all I need. You are sufficient. You are sovereign. You are wise. You are loving. You are good.”

The waves may be still beating on your boat, but you’ll be safe. Listen, the storm may—it may kill you—but you’ll still be safe if you are a child of God. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Dannah: That’s Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, and again, you can hear the entire series "Dealing With Depression and Doubt," when you go to ReviveOurHearts.com/weekend and select today’s episode.

So, is it possible to flourish even in the midst of horrendous difficulty? God’s Word says yes. We learn about it in Psalm 92.

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I’ve been memorizing Psalm 92 to teach my heart what it means to flourish in Christ. I have discovered that there’s a whole other level to the power of the comfort of Scripture when you memorize it. It’s a deep form of meditation. Let me see if can I quote the thesis of Psalm 92 to you, verses 12–15. 

The righteous flourish like the palm tree
   and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
They are planted in the house of the Lord;
   they flourish in the courts of our God.
They still bear fruit in old age;
   they are ever full of sap and green,
to declare that the Lord is upright;
   he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

I think I got that pretty close. “The righteous flourish like a palm tree.” I don’t know if it’s just me, but the palm tree comparison always felt off to me. I guess I associate them with Florida vacations, not Bible-times geography! At any rate, then I studied the trees. Amazing! What powerful root systems they have—stubborn and unyielding to the storms they face . . . hurricanes!

It was already intriguing to me, but then I saw a weather forecast for Puerto Rico, I believe it was. A tropical storm was headed their way and there was footage of a past and horrible hurricane on the screen. I watched as a hotel sign was completely blown out, roofing from the hotel and nearby buildings flew away in the wind, cars moved . . . but the palm trees . . . they just bent over and leaned with the wind. The palm trees were bending, but they weren’t breaking like absolutely everything else in that scene.

My friend, you and I were meant to bend but not break in the storms of life. We are flourishers!

It also says the the righteous grow like the cedars of Lebanon. You've probably never seen a cedar of Lebanon tree. They are pretty rare. They were ravished by the Babylonians years ago. But there was this magnificent groove of them in the geographical area where Scripture was written.

So the writers and the people who read this psalm years ago would have seen them and would have known they were magnificent. Think . . . Redwood Forest magnificent. Think . . . they look like cone-shaped Christmas trees until they are one hundred years old. And then, the branches get so big that they look like tree trunks, and they turn into like giant bonsais. They are beautiful!

But, they grow slowly. It takes thirty years before a cedar of Lebanon bears fruit. That's like forever in the tree world. But here's the thing: once they start fruiting, they fruit for centuries! On and on and on goes the fruitfulness of their lives.

Yes, my friend, the righteous grow like palm trees, they grow like cedars of Lebanon.

But, there’s a qualifier to that: righteousness. You’ve got to be a woman who makes right choices and who lives in obedience to the Lord. The righteous are able to bud even in the storms of life. Why? It’s all about where they are planted.

And that brings us to verse 13. “They are planted in the house of the Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God!”

And with this we’ve just arrived at one of the most important secrets of a flourishing woman. A flourishing woman is planted in the presence of God.

This is key, because otherwise this whole thesis falls apart. You see, it says the “righteous” flourish. But Romans 3:23 says there are no righteous people on planet earth. Uh-oh! Thankfully, Romans 3 goes on to read that we can be “justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

Now that was a whole lot of Bible words, but it simply means this: flourishing is really all about His righteousness. We receive it as a free gift from Him. 

I don't know about you, but that's a relief to me! I’m so very sinful. But if I plant myself in God’s presence, well, I get His righteousness. It’s like I’m putting on the gift of righteousness, the robe of righteousness that He’s gifted to me, and then I can to flourish. I bend, but I don’t break in the storms of life.

You can live like that palm tree, too, my friend!

Now, something interesting. That weather forecast I saw, it became a biblical object lesson for me. But you have to be in the Word for God for Him to be able to speak to you through what you see and experience in life. I just want to invite you to get into your Bible and get your Bible into you!

I promise, you’ll be glad you did. You’ll be grateful! That’s a good word for this month of the year, isn’t it!? 

We want to help you choose gratitude all year round, not just in November. Our thank-you gift to you for your donation of any amount is the 2025 Revive Our Hearts wall calendar. This is a wonderful way to put up reminders that you glance at all the time. Just ask for the Choosing Gratitude thirteen-month calendar from Revive Our Hearts when you contact us with your donation at ReviveOurHearts.com/Donate. 

Today, we’ve been talking about "Persevering through the Storm," and the hope that comes when we do. Just a reminder that you can still sign up and watch the online event we had earlier this week, on “Enduring Trials and Suffering.” It’s the third installment of our series Biblical Help for Real Life. It will encourage you greatly in whatever storm you’re facing right now. To sign up for the full series or just the one on Enduring Trials and Suffering, check out ReviveOurHearts.com/help. 

Well, with the Thanksgiving holiday just around the corner, we’re going to talk next week about exactly that. No, not the huge meal where we gorge ourselves. But, giving thanks. Gratitude. I hope you’ll join us for that.

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 in Niles, Michigan, calling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness—like a flourishing tree—in Christ.

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