Pastor John D Jakes

Storms. Here in central Iowa we have had plenty of them lately. It doesn’t matter if it is wind, rain, hail, or flood waters, they all surprise us with their power. It doesn’t even really matter how often it happens, we are consistently taken aback by how powerful nature can be. It reminds me that we live in a myth of security. We like to think that we have got everything under control. We do… until we don’t. We just aren’t strong enough to make our lives secure on our own.

Psalm 20:7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.

I have to admit, the storms last week rattled me a bit. No, I wasn’t in any real physical danger. But my teen age girls were home when the tree fell on my house. My first thought was, “I should have been there!” My next thought was, “What could I have done, caught the tree?” Sure, I could have comforted them and taken charge, but there is one thing that I could not do. I could not stop the wind or the tree.

There’s the challenge, isn’t it? We want to stop things. We want to stop the disasters. We want to stop the problems. We want to prevent tragedy. Yet, most things that truly stop us in our tracks can’t be stopped or prevented by us. We can’t stop natural disasters. We can’t stop the doctor’s diagnosis. If we can’t stop these things, where is the hope?

This is the truth that God’s people have discovered – my hope cannot be in my own strength or in my good circumstances. Some people may trust in those things like some used to trust in chariots or horses. God’s people learn to trust in the powerful name of their God.

What’s in a name? Why is trusting in the name of God the answer? Names in the Bible reveal character. God’s first descriptive name in the Bible is Elohim. This is the name we see in Genesis 1:1. It reminds us that God is the Creator. He has the power to create out of nothing! As we look at the other names and titles of God, we see similar declarations. He is the Provider. He is the Redeemer. He is the Healer.

What do we learn from these names of God? God can be trusted. He can be trusted with our greatest needs. He can be trusted with our today. He is worth our trust. He is not surprised or thwarted by those things that catch us off guard.

So, I don’t want to live in a myth of security. I don’t want to believe that I have everything under control when I don’t. Instead, I want to trust the One who does have everything under control. Then, when the storms of life are all around me, I can know that no matter what the outcome may be, there is One who is bigger than the storm that I can trust. This doesn’t mean that the storms won’t come, but it does mean that I am not alone nor powerless.

We’ll think more together about how this plays out in everyday life in future posts. For today, I am just working through how I have been lulled into expecting that I am in control. That is a myth. I am not in control. However, I know the One who is. I should trust Him instead of me.

Something to think about,

Pastor John