Different types of storms
From an article by Ed Silvoso
There is no doubt that we find ourselves tossed by a global socio-economic-political storm of astonishing proportions—arguably the worst ever, and one that is wreaking havoc all over the world.
The question is, where is God? And how can we find Him, especially when we feel that we are sinking?
We have pondered that question ourselves, and quite frankly, we have experienced despair when we couldn’t figure out where God was in the storm…until recently, when one of our colleagues in transformation, Pastor Kent Mattox, shared an illuminating insight that we now wish to pass on for your encouragement.
In the New Testament we see three types of storms:
In the first type, believers cry out for help, Jesus rebukes the storm and it stops right away (see Mark 4:39).
The second type is a storm where Jesus invites us to face the winds and walk on water, and when we sink, He rescues us, walks with us back to the boat, and the storm stops (see Matthew 14:22ff).
The third type is the most severe storm because the boat capsizes and everything on it is lost, and the only way to survive is to hang on to a piece of wood from the wreckage to reach the safety of the beach. That was the case with the apostle Paul in Acts 26.
COVID-19 and today's social distress is such a storm. Everything we have been sailing on or with—things we took for granted—have been disappearing. Not only in government, education, business, health care and the economy, but even the way we used to do church has washed away, leaving us with little to hang on to but a plank of wood, as was the case with Paul and his fellow passengers.
That piece of wood symbolizes the Cross. When everything else is sinking, we must hang on to it and remind ourselves that we are saved by the blood that Jesus shed on that Cross, and propelled by that unsinkable fact and the power it emanates, we will gain the strength to swim to a safe shore.
But make no mistake…once we get there, it will get worse before it gets better, as Paul experienced.
As he was building a fire to warm himself and the other distressed passengers, he was bitten by a viper. This caused the locals to suspect Paul of a crime for which the viper’s attack was divine punishment. But Paul shook the viper off, threw it into the fire, and survived the attack. When the locals saw this, they looked to him as a divine messenger which led to the establishment of an Ekklesia in Malta where many came to faith, including the governor when his father was miraculously healed.
The devastation wrought by the storm was used by God to establish the Ekklesia in a place that otherwise would have been left without one.
Which brings us back to today’s crisis. The fullness of the power of the Cross symbolized by that piece of wood, now that so much is going under, provides the way to not only survive, but to thrive in the storm. Could you bring transformation to your sphere of influence - your neighbourhood, your work, new places?
Check out books by Ed Silvoso - Transformation and Ekklesia.
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From an article by Ed Silvoso, 17/08/2021