"Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh. ²² Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man. ²³ Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven. For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way" (Luke 6: 21-24).

There is an overflow of expected comfort and protection from the Lord that has been pouring out of the mind of many professed Christians. “Tribulations cannot happen to me for I am in tune with my Creator” say some. “I will accept no storms in my life” exclaim others. “Why is this happening to me, I must have done something real bad?” asks the deacon [forgot about Job]. There are two parties that are being tested. The first, which consists of those that are witnessing these storm riders, conclude that these church goers must have committed some type of horrible sin. The other party is the recipient of the tribulation who feels extremely shameful and embarrassed about his or her current situation without acknowledging that it came straight from heaven.

A novice Christian would wrestle in prayer for God to immediately remove the curse placed upon him. An experienced one would be reassured by faith that this uncomfortable experience will benefit him during his walk of salvation. Watch how God purposely leads us into storms.

Jesus “got into the boat and his disciples followed him. ²⁴ Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. ²⁵ The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Lord, save us! We're going to drown!" ²⁶ He replied, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. ²⁷ The men were amazed and asked, "What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!” (Matthew 8:23-27).

Notice the underline phrase which explicitly testifies that it is while we’re following our Master that He leads into storms. We are not left alone in them. Otherwise Christ would not be the True Shepherd who leads and protects His sheep in all situations. When all is calm in our lives we religiously recite all of the Psalms of protection (23, 27, 28, 46, 91, 112, 118 etc.) but when the road becomes rocky we forget the meaning and the importance of these same Psalms. Why is it that the Psalms seem powerful only when everything is quiet but useless and even forgotten when we are facing turbulences when in fact it is the appropriate time to make use of them?

The Creator does not respond to our selfish desire where we would like to be placed in His arms and rocked all day long. He does not and will never plan to make us leave our spiritual bottle of milk based on a human perspective.

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways…" (Isaiah 55:8).

Parents are taught by both their faulty feelings and worldly customs to be overprotective of their babies. They will allow nothing, as long as they can, to harm these cute creatures even unto adulthood. Some mothers, unaware of the consequences, share their beds with their newborn up until the age of 7 (sometimes longer) which most of the time cause more harm than good. It becomes a lot harder for a child to be independent of his or her mother.

Another consequence may be spiritual dwarfism. The child’s spiritual maturity suffers a great deal thus is unable to face the storms of life alone. He is always going back to mommy or daddy. God, the author of the storms, will not permit mommy or daddy to either shorten the length of the storm or, for that matter, remove the storm completely. If that were possible then the parents will do that whenever they face their own storms.

Even Jesus at a tender age knew the necessity to be separated from his earthly parents in order to mature both physically and spiritually.

"When he was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast, according to the custom. ⁴³ After the Feast was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. ⁴⁴ Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. ⁴⁵ When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. ⁴⁶ After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. ⁴⁷ Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. ⁴⁸ When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, "Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you" (Luke 2:42-48).

This is a perfect example of how controlling parents can be naturally. It is part of their genetic make up which sharply contrasts God’s intended manner to promote child maturing. Parents are giving the duty to educate the child on how to become an adult; however, most parents are more willing to keep their children dependent of them rather than opening the door for growth and hardship development. Falling down, scraping the knee, stomach aches, punishment for disobeying are great tools to help a child learn the more difficult aspect of life that he will eventually face as an adult. Parents have the great responsibilities of preventing their kids from becoming wimps.

Because of our false sense of insecurity, we feel that God must treat us the same way. Well think again for a moment; not even Jesus, the Begotten Son, the sinless One, the Worthy Lamb, was treated as such. He had to develop his perfected character through various experiences of excruciating pains and sufferings—the Cross being the most challenging one.

"For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings" (Hebrews 2:10).

We, as imperfect as we are, are far from being exempt from calamities. Allow me to list several verses of Scripture that may aid you in relating to this uncomfortable topic.

1. Luke 9:23-24 "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. ²⁴ For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it."

2. Matthew 10:16-19 "I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. ¹⁷ "Be on your guard against men; they will hand you over to the local councils and flog you in their synagogues. ¹⁸ On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. ¹⁹ But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it."

3. Mark 4:35-41 "On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, "Let us go across to the other side." ³⁶ And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. ³⁷ And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. ³⁸ But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" ³⁹ And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. ⁴⁰ He said to them, "Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?" ⁴¹ And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey him?" "

Why do we fear storms that God has full control over?

By the way the disciples had two options: (1) Command the storm by faith (2) sleep as Jesus did.

4. John 15:18-20 "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. ¹⁹ If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also."

5. John 16:33 "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

"For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us" (Romans 8:18).

How encouraging are these words of Paul who, among all the apostles, suffered many calamities just because he knew that his reward will outweigh by far what he has endured for His crucified Savior! (2 Corinthians 11: 16-33).

Let not the storms of life cause you to make a detour to the wider road of perdition. Rely on the faithful Lord of heaven and earth.

"Many are the afflictions of the righteous; but the LORD delivers him out of them all" (Psalm 34:19).

Whether you are eating, drinking, singing, preaching, whatever you do, do it all for the Glory of God. Live today as if it was the last day you will live for and in Christ.

TAKE UP YOUR CROSS DAILY AND FOLLOW CHRIST!