Article

Walking in a Thunderstorm

By Darrin Sculley

Scripture Reading: Mark 4:35-39

He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. Mark 4:39

Have you ever taken a long walk in a thunderstorm? I have, and I can tell you it is a thing of true creation-beauty. Crazy? A bit. Awesome? Absolutely. How about you? Ah, I can imagine the concern on your face. It’s understandable.

In the modern hymn “Yet Not I But Through Christ In Me,” the songwriter says this in verse two:

“The night is dark but I am not forsaken
For by my side the Savior he will stay.”

A thunderstorm is a circumstance you may not welcome because it seems so exposed and unpredictable. In a passage we studied recently, Mark 4:39 says that Jesus rebuked the storm with “Quiet! Be Still!” Jesus understood the very human response of fear to this chaos and cacophony because he was also human. But being omnipotent God, He also appreciated the irrationality of that fear.

Your thunderstorm right now might not be thunder and lightning, but something else. An unpaid bill? Friendships in turmoil? Trust that Christ will provide just at the right time and place, just as He calmed the storm. Let go of the irrational fear of the circumstances you are in, and have faith that He controls every aspect of this world for all time. As the songwriter says,

“I labor on in weakness and rejoicing
For in my need, His power is displayed.”

Lord, still the storms in my life. Yet not my power, but through Christ in me.