This pithy saying is not only good advice for everyday living, it also has deep spiritual meaning. In fact, pastor Patrick O’Loughlin has preached an entire sermon on this phrase (www.sermoncentral.com/…/patrick-oloughlin-sermons-7678.asp).
O’Loughlin’s main point is that we waste our storms when we don’t let God work in them to bring about our good and His purpose. Storms reveal our characters. And they let us know if our spiritual beliefs are incomplete.
Every storm is an opportunity to learn new things about Jesus. That’s why we should pray more during storms, not less. That’s why we should read the word of God more during storms, not less.
“Satan’s and God’s design in your storms are not the same. Satan designs to destroy your love for Christ, God designs to deepen your love for Christ.” ~ John Piper
We also waste our storms if we don’t see them as opportunities to test our faith. Storms show where our faith is really placed. If it is in God (instead of people, possessions, positions or power structures) then we can do the same thing Jesus did when a storm was raging around Him (Mark 4: 35-41).
He was sleeping on a cushion!
And the reason He could sleep was because Jesus had complete faith in God. He totally trusted God to protect Him and to provide whatever was needed for His well-being.
It’s easy to say we trust God, but only when our other support systems are challenged do we truly have opportunity to display that trust.
Every storm cloud has a silver lining, of some sort. And if we choose to make our storms count, there will always be a rainbow.
