When my oldest daughter was a toddler, she was petrified of the vacuum cleaner. I would be vacuuming the [yes, I did use the vacuum cleaner occasionally!] house and whenever the vacuum would get close to her, she would start screaming and run from the room! In a moment of dadly creativity, I knelt down on the floor next to her and told her to roar back at the offending vacuum cleaner whenver it scared her. Bless her heart, she actually did it and it worked!
Two conflicting emotions: Humor. The sight of a pewee-sized little girl roaring like a lion at the vacuum cleaner. Satisfaction. The fact that my fatherly advice actually worked!
Do you have storms in your life? Do they seem beyond your ability to handle? What do you do when that happens? Whimper complaints to God? Make demands for meteorological intervention?
One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s go over to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and set out. As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!” He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. “Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples. Luke 8:22-25
Of course, the famous miracle when Jesus calms the storm! I’ve heard that story since I was a toddler. The main point of the story is that God has power over nature! Or is it? When Jesus said “Where is your faith?”, was He suggesting that the disciples should have calmed the storm?
Maybe the larger truth is that we too can rest calmly because we know who our God is and that we can trust Him to work for our good whether He calms our storm or not.
A contemporary Christian song recorded by Scott Krippayne includes the following lyrics-
Sometimes He calms the storm
with a whispered “Peace be still.”
He can settle any sea,
but it doesn’t mean He will.
Sometimes He holds us close
and lets the wind and waves go wild.
Sometimes He calms the storm,
and other times He calms His child.
What was more satifsying to me as a dad? Turning the vacuum cleaner off so that my daughter wouldn’t be frightened? Or was it giving her the power to rise above her fear? Is God more interested in proving to me His anti-storm power? Or is He more interested in using His power in me by growing me from the inside out so that I will look more like His Son?
“Don’t tell God how big the storm is. Tell the storm how big your God is!” -unknown
11/5/09 shared at work.