Dear Friend,
Tucked away in the little book of Nahum is a verse that is easily missed.
It’s where Nahum writes. God’s way is in “the whirl wind and the storm.” (Nahum
3:1)
Have you ever wondered why you had to go through some of the
things that you have had to face? Have you ever wanted to shake your fist at
God, and say, “Why God are you doing this to me?”
Last night I walked away from a church service for a child who was
born and lived only a few short weeks before God took her home. Devastated by
their loss, I know that in the short span of her life, spent mostly in two
hospitals, those parents must have uttered the same cry: “Why, Lord, why?”
A while ago I was on the phone talking with a person who was angry
over what he felt God had been putting him through, and he was asking that same
question: “Why me, God?”
Well, Nahum reminds us that sometimes God puts us in the midst of
the storm clouds to teach us valuable lessons that we could only learn through
suffering.
George Mueller said about such situations that in “1000 trials, it
is not just 500 of them that work for the good of the believer, but 999- plus
one.” Streams in the Desert, June 10th.
Moses knew the truth that sometimes God uses “the whirlwind and
the storm” to get our attention. In Deuteronomy 4:30, he writes, “When you are
in distress and all these things have come upon you... you will return to the
Lord your God and listen to his voice.”
I think this is a message we all need to learn in times of
trouble. We need to sit at His feet and quietly listen to what He might be
teaching us in the midst of our trial. While all things that happen to us may
not appear good from a human perspective, even the worst of those things can be
used for good if we will listen to His still small voice seeks that seeks to
teach us during our perplexity and pain.
We all may experience the whirlwind and the storm in our lives,
and we need them, for it is one of God's most effective tools for drawing us
closer to Him.
William Cowper, the great poet and hymnwriter, could take the
stand in defense of what I've written. He passed through a period of great
crisis in his life. Finally, one bleak morning he tried to put an end to his
life by taking poison. The attempt at suicide failed. He then hired a coach,
was driven to the Thames River, intending to throw himself from the bridge...
But was the ‘strangely restrained.’ The next morning, he fell upon a sharp
knife- but his blade broke. He later tried to hang himself but was found and
taken down unconscious... still alive. Sometime later he took up a Bible, began
to read the book of Romans, and was gloriously saved. The God of the ‘whirlwind
and the storm’ had pursued him unto the end and won his heart. The Finishing
Touch, Chuck Swindoll, pp. 238-39.
Later in his life, Cooper sat down and penned his experience in a
hymn that many of us have sung.
God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants his footsteps in the sea,
and rides upon the storm.”
When those whirl winds and storms come sweeping into your life, when one adversity after another comes piling up on your doorstep, perhaps it may be God's attention getter, driving you closer to Him. I think that is what my friend on the phone needed to hear, and so often it is what I need to hear.
Have a great day and remember: “If God is not pruning you, you are
probably not growing.”
Yours in faith and friendship,
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