Guided by a Storm!

Have you ever found yourself in the middle of a treacherous storm only to discover later that God was using that storm to guide you where He wanted you to be? Perhaps the winds of indecisiveness overwhelmed you? You prayed, you read your Bible, you cried but you couldn’t seem to break out of the storm? Then, all of sudden the storm broke and you realized God had you right where He wanted you to be?

Consider Paul for a moment. He was bound up in chains headed to Rome aboard a ship to face his execution. Paul remained steadfast unto the leading of the Lord; anticipating his eventual opportunity to share Jesus with the Caesars. God had something important for Paul to do along the way. So, He created a diversion through the weather in order to fulfill His plan.

The book of Acts records this diversion in this way: “When a light wind began blowing from the south, the sailors thought they could make it. So they pulled up anchor and sailed close to the shore of Crete. But the weather changed abruptly, and a wind of typhoon strength (called a “northeaster”) burst across the island and blew us out to sea. The sailors couldn’t turn the ship into the wind, so they gave up and let it run before the gale” (Acts 27:13-15 NLT).

Not exactly the way Paul and the sailors would have liked for things to go, but God’s plan had to be fulfilled and He knew what it would take to make it happen. The storm moved in, began to batter the ship until the sailors finally relinquished steerage of the ship over to the storm.

God now had control and was able to guide them to the place He wanted them to be. The ship finally wreaked on the Isle of Malta where God was able to use Paul in a tremendous way. Paul shared Jesus with people who had never heard of him and many people were healed of their diseases.

Sometimes, we are hanging on so tight to our own life, our own situation, our own ministry that God can’t get the control He needs to guide us to the place He desires us to be. So, He sends a storm into our life to create a diversion. The storm causes us to realize we are powerless to break out on our own.

Finally, we relinquish control over to Him and realize He had something special in store for us to do that we would’ve never discovered without His divine intervention. God is doing great works in our world today. He desires to carry out some of that work through you. When you fail to recognize His guidance, He may just have to create a diversion in your path to wake you up.

Scripture Reading: “O LORD, I give my life to you. I trust in you, my God! Do not let me be disgraced, or let my enemies rejoice in my defeat. No one who trusts in you will ever be disgraced, but disgrace comes to those who try to deceive others. Show me the right path, O LORD ; point out the road for me to follow. Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are the God who saves me. All day long I put my hope in you” (Psalm 25:1-5 NLT).

Prayer: Father in heaven, I pray that You would help me to be sensitive to Your direction for my life. Help me to recognize when You are trying to readjust my direction in order to carry out Your plans. I don’t always know the “whys” or “how comes” but I know that You have a plan and I simply need to be willing to say “YES” as You lay that out before me. I may not always know where I am going but You do, so help me to simply place all my trust in You. Lord, I love You and thank You for guiding and directing my life always…in Jesus’ name…AMEN!