Has a storm ripped through your life? God is with you in the wreckage
Editor’s Note: This devotion was written by Dianna Hobbs and used by permission from her ‘Your Daily Cup of Inspiration’ blog. To read more encouragement like this, visit YourDailyCupOfInspiration.com.
About a week ago, I solicited prayer on behalf of a family member who is gravely ill. I am thankful for everyone that prayed. So far, his conditioned has dramatically worsened.
While my family and I believe God can do anything, we also know that the Lord has the final say in all matters, and we trust His will completely.
Before I received the phone call with the bad news of my loved one’s failing health, it was a day like any other. I was not expecting our family to be thrown headlong into a storm.
But life is like that, isn’t it?
One day you’re going along, and all is well. The next, a treacherous situation develops seemingly out of the blue, and you’re doing your best to figure out how to navigate the angry seas.
It reminds me of when Paul the Apostle got caught in a storm in Acts 27 on his way to Rome. He was aboard a ship carrying 276 passengers in total. The winds were against them, and they got caught up in a hurricane-like tempest called the Northeaster. Their vessel was violently battered, and the ship was ultimately destroyed.
Though God spared everyone’s life, because the Lord previously said He would (vv. 22-25), Paul and the others onboard did not escape the terror of the intense storm. In verse 20, Paul describes in vivid detail the bleakness of the situation. He said, “When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the storm continued raging, we finally gave up all hope of being saved.”
Can’t you just sense the ominous conditions? The absence of any natural light whatsoever. Have you ever been in a hopeless situation where you couldn’t see the light? Battered by life? Unsure about whether you would even make it through?
If so, I get it.
It’s hard, but none of us gets to completely escape such moments. As believers, there will invariably be storms we must face. But God, who can carry us through any and everything, will forever be faithful to get us through the storm.
In today’s lesson we see that the passengers on the ship, after many days of being in survival mode for what must have felt like an eternity, eventually floated to safety on broken pieces (v. 44).
The good news is that God was with them in the wreckage.
Friend, there are seasons when God allows you to totally escape the storm and walk away completely untouched. He has done that in my life many times over. In other seasons, however, in His sovereignty, He allows the storm to rip through our lives and leave things in pieces. When that happens, you know what God does?
He gets down in the wreckage with us and guides us to safety.
We may be battered and bruised during these times, but God heals bruises, sews up wounds, caters to the brokenhearted, and restores joy to those who are crushed in spirit. If you’re going through something tough today, know that God is with you in the wreckage. The light of His Holy Spirit shines in the darkness when you are unable to see any light at the end of the proverbial tunnel.
Though it may look and feel like it, this storm will not destroy you. God has fortified you, for His power is active within you.
To encourage you, I’m stirring 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 KJV into your cup of inspiration, which says, “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;”
As you drink down the contents of your cup, declare over your life, “Though the storm may rage, and the battle may be fierce, this will not destroy me, because the Lord is with me.”
Again, God is in the wreckage with you, and at the appointed time, He will put the pieces of your life back together again. Continue to hope in Him. He will never leave nor forsake you!
Now, let’s pray.
God, thank You for assuring me that even through life’s toughest storms, when I see nothing but wreckage all around me, You get down in the wreckage with me and make me whole again. I declare that this storm will not destroy me. But I will emerge with a testimony, because You are my refuge and shelter, and a strong deliverer in the time of storm. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Dianna Hobbs is founder of EEW Magazine Online and CEO of Empowering Everyday Women Ministries — a 501c3 nonprofit organization that shares the gospel and provides humanitarian aid to the hurting. She is also the writer of Your Daily Cup of Inspiration and executive producer of the companion podcast. Follow Dianna on social media: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube. Sign up for her free ministry newsletter here.
