HEARTLIGHT®: Two Minute Meditations: "From the Edge of the Storm"


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le, and especially the Psalms, give me words to express my frustration, “Where are you God? Are you not listening to me? Will you abandon me forever? Wake up and help me? Don’t you care if I perish? How can lifeless lips praise you, O God?”

It is easy to imagine God at a nice casual distance viewing the problems of our lives from the edge of the storm. He sees “the grand view of things.” He has his overarching plan for history. He has planned the ultimate destination for our individual lives. Surely he couldn’t live in the middle of our storm-filled world. The jagged, soul-piercing lightning bolts of reality we face, probably appear marvelous and beautiful from his safe distance in heaven. We, on the other hand, are terrified, perplexed, and shattered. The damaging hail we face must appear as gorgeous towering clouds shimmering in the fading light of sunset. The torrents of rain, driven by the fierce winds that blind and confuse us, he probably only feels as a cooling breeze from his place at the edge of the storm. At least that’s what Satan would have us believe.

God is not a spectator.

“He doesn’t really care for you.” the evil one whispers in our thoughts. “See, he makes no appearance in your storms. He’s silent.” Satan mockingly tries to get us to believe. “If your God is really there, he is only where he can see it safely, from the edge of your storm.”

But God is not a spectator of the storms in our lives. He doesn’t stand back a safe distance and watch our struggles from the edge of the storm. How do I know? One word — Jesus!

Jesus entered our world and faced our storms. He wasn’t a spectator. He wasn’t kept a safe distance from danger, protected and cozy at the edge of our storms. From the moment of his birth, he entered the storm. When his life ended, the sun was hidden, the sky was dark and menacing, and he faced the full fury of the storm — betrayal, abandonment, ridicule, mockery, torture, and death. He knew its lightning bolts and heard its thunder. He endured its hailstones and blinding rain. He cried out during its howling winds. And he did it alone so we wouldn’t ever have to face our storms alone. Jesus was reminding us that God is not content to view our terrors safely from the edge of the storm.

So what storm do you face today? ...tomorrow? ...the rest of this year? ...the rest of your life? Don’t face it alone! He’s there waiting to help you. Not from the edge of the storm, but in the center, right there where things are worst and you are most vulnerable.

So rather than asking God to remove you from the storm, why not ask him to help you see Jesus who can help you through?

Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.
When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of the night he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, because they all saw him and were terrified.
Immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed. (Mark 6:45-51 NIV)