“SHELTERED FROM OR SHELTERED IN
THE STORMS OF LIFE?”
By: J.FARRELL FISHER, MARCH 27-28, 2017
How inspirational and life-strengthening do YOU find the Word of Holy God for your daily life and existence, good days or bad, in trouble or triumph, in days of gladness or sadness, in times of weariness and exhaustion with self but even with self at its best – is it mind-reasoning or the Master’s revelation?
Interesting verses in Isaiah 40:27-31! The nation of Israel, at least the majority of ‘religious pretenders’, had come to a troubled time, and Isaiah spoke saying : Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel: “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my just claim is passed over by my God”? [They felt abandoned by God in their rebellion although He abided at their ‘door’]. The prophet then said: Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”
“FLESH FAINTS! THE FALLEN SIN-NATURE AT ITS BEST FALLS SHORT AND NEVER ENTERS “THE FULLNESS OF THE BLESSING OF THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST!” SIN-DOMINATED LIVES NEVER OVERCOME SPIRITUAL DEATH BY A ‘BEST-EFFORT STRATEGY’! STRONG-MINDED RELIGIONISTS ARE DETERMINED BUT VOID OF THE REALITY OF REDEEMED LIVES BY THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB!
In John 1:10-13 the beloved John wrote: “He (Jesus) was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own (the Jewish community), and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in (rest in, rely upon, adhere to, submit to) His name: who were born, not of blood (physical descendants), not of the will of the flesh (best effort), nor of the will of man (strong masculinity), but of God.”
There is an ‘eternal difference’ between those who live in the “shadows of religious faith” and the “true friends of God” who live in the blood-bought “land of the redeemed (by the shed blood of Christ!)”.
It was Thomas Adams who wrote (The Encyclopedia of Religious Quotations, Edited by Frank S. Mead, Fleming H. Revell Comp.,Westwood, NJ.): “Grace comes into the soul, as the morning sun into the world; first a dawning; then a light; and at last the sun in his full and excellent brightness.” Soulish awareness – a dawning of the need of God; soulish alertness in hope – they hear Truth of the Redeemer; soulish enlightment-as Jesus and His eternal purpose is unveiled by the Holy Spirit!
In Romans 1:1-6 Paul illumines our minds and hearts about our entrance into God’s designed and blessed “storm shelter”! He said: “Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle [Your calling? Disciple, pastor, evangelist. Missionary, teacher, witness, ambassador?], separated to the gospel of God, which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures (then, that was the Old Testament!), concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name, among whom you also are the called Of Jesus Christ;…”
The “separated”, although in the world, are not ‘of the world’ any longer – yet many ‘church-folk’ ‘profess’ but never are “possessed” in the fullness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ Jesus as the called of Jesus Christ! Have you missed, been blinded to, or untrained in the eternal Truth as Paul challenged us, Romans 1:1, “separated TO the gospel of God!” Are you aware that there are many who are about “separating themselves” yet missing Christ Jesus? How numerous are the “white-washers” attempting to cover themselves apart from the atoning blood of the Lamb of God! And the Gospel of the Lamb of God has nothing to do with a man’s ‘religious interests’, his ‘flesh-efforts’, or his/her ‘maxed-out attempts at imitating Christ’!
But, also, one of the major tragedies and misunderstandings or maligned teachings is, that when one comes to Christ, he/she is then exempt from “the storms of life”, when in the reality of biblical truth we’re not “sheltered from” but “sheltered in” the storms of life!
In John 16:33 there is an informative word from Jesus to every true follower of the Master. He said: “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
I want you to follow carefully Hebrews 5:5-9 because it unveils, yes, “not sheltered from, but sheltered IN the storms of life”! “So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He (God the Father) who said to Him (God the Son): “You are My Son, today I have begotten You.” As He also said in another place: “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek”; who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, YET He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. AND having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him…”
Dare I remind you? True disciples of Christ are not “sheltered FROM the storms of life”, but “sheltered IN the storms of life”! It’s so interesting to hear the prophet, Isaiah, say in Isaiah 32:13, “On the land of my people will come up thorns and briers, yes, on all the happy homes in the joyous city…”! I don’t think Eliphaz was unwise in saying, yes, to Job in Job’s troubles. Job 5:7-11 is Eliphaz’s encouragement to Job to SEEK GOD when ‘troubles’ emerge! He said: “Yet man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward. But as for me, I would seek God, and to God I would commit my cause – Who does great things, and unsearchable, marvelous things without number. He gives rain on the earth, and sends waters on the fields. He sets on high those who are lowly, and those who mourn are lifted to safety.” (Thank You, Lord God Almighty, yes, for Your sovereign watch-care over us!)
Are you aware that the walk of faith is not always smooth highways but bumpy roads, not always exempt from tribulation but exalted in it and over it, not a ‘fleshly lesson’ of “grit” in overcoming but the spiritual Truth of grace that abounds and overcomes the world, the flesh, and the devil?
In Mark4:35-41 there is Christ Jesus on the boat in the midst of a great windstorm with the waves beating against the boat to the point the disciples were sure they were about to sink! Verse 38 says, But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, ‘Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?’ In Verse 39 it says: Then Jesus arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.
But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?” I tell you: God’s intent, design, purpose, and promise IS: “Peace in life’s storms, not peace from them”!
Yes, I KNOW! There can be, sometimes are, or often will be, ‘crashing winds’ that move over one’s life circumstances, tumultuous winds of trouble that want to take you down, sudden, unexpected storms that “blow against the mind and spirit”- but you need to know: the grace of God is stronger than your earth’s stoutest winds, more powerful than the tempter’s desire to slay you, with John Newton’s testimony a shining example of what yours and mine should always be when in “Amazing Grace” he wrote: “Through many dangers, toils and snares I have already come, It’s grace that brought me safe thus far, And grace will lead me home.”
Though there may be ‘darkness’ before you, or around you now, don’t lay the ‘darkness’ of your life circumstance as “troubles God has ordained for you”, but seek to understand, unveil, and expose the world of trouble that surrounds you, look inward to the old sin nature that defiles you, and consider the “devil” as the composer of life’s music of heartache, despair, and ‘venomous’ “snake-bites!”
Do you clearly understand the ministry of Emmanuel, “God in Flesh”, Promised Messiah, Lord and Savior, King of kings and Lord of lords? And He suffered, bled, and died, and we were “crucified with Christ”! And the “suffering Savior” willingly met, in life’s inevitable storms, Father-God and again and again “rested in the Father”!
What has “compassed you about” in your pilgrimage as Jesus Himself was “compassed about” in His journey? In Job 26:10-12 Job delivered a powerful statement of understanding that should enlighten you even more about what YOU may be facing in “storms” from the world, the flesh, and the devil: “He (God!) drew a circular horizon on the face of the waters (“stormy seas, troubling waters”?), AT THE BOUNDARY OF LIGHT AND DARKNESS. The pillars of heaven tremble, and are astonished at His rebuke. He stirs up the sea with His power, and by His understanding HE BREAKS UP THE STORM.” Glory!
Remember! The message you’re reading is: “Sheltered From Or Sheltered In The Storms?” And it’s vitally important that YOU understand – inviting Christ Jesus into your life is to open the door to the reality of world-indifference to your faith, while at the same time opposed to all Christ Jesus stands for in your life! Salvation in Christ is the open door to the “storms” an unbelieving world will release! Hear the Lord’s words in John 15:18-19, and John 16:1-4!!
John 15:18-19 says, “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet, because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” Oh, and then, in John 16:1-4, hear The Lord and Savior again:
“These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me. But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them.”
If, for now or up to now, you haven’t experienced any “storm clouds”, be alert – they will move in and over your walk of faith or over a life even void of faith! Storms do arise, dark clouds do move in at times, wild, frenzied events do boil up to sweep you away from devotion to Christ Jesus!
Interesting verses for our spiritual insight concerning the “storms of life”! It says, in Hebrews 5:5-9, speaking of Jesus, understanding, “as He is so are we in this world,” “So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He (God) who said to Him (Jesus): “You are My Son, today I have begotten You.” As He also says in another place: “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek”; who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, YET HE LEARNED OBEDIENCE BY THE THINGS WHICH HE SUFFERED. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him…”!! Christ Jesus walked through the “storms of life”, understanding it was His calling as well as ours!
How interesting and illuminating do you find Mark 10:21b, “and come, take up your cross, and follow Me,” yet how many do you know who see “suffering”, “bearing one’s cross”, as foreign to so-called “modern-day discipleship”! They’ll say: “That can’t be true – suffering is for sinners, not saints!” Yet how wrong is that twisted theology, denying one must ‘take up his cross, and follow Jesus’ down worldly streets and avenues’! To be “in Christ” is to dwell amidst a crowd of worldly followers of the world spirit, world design, and world intent, which doesn’t include (in their worldly minds!) obeying or submitting to His holy reign where we live.
In John 3:27-36 there is another clear difference between “Sheltered From” or “Sheltered In The Storms of Life”! It says: John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but I have been sent before Him. He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He (Christ Jesus) must increase, but I must decrease.
He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. And what He has seen and heard, that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony. He who has received His testimony has certified that God is true. For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure.
The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in (trusts in, relies upon, adheres to) the Son has everlasting life; and he who does believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on Him.” Christ Jesus IS our Shelter in the midst of life’s storms!
Another challenging, Scriptural awakening call is found in John 7, as Jesus was confronted by the ‘religious Pharisees’, in Verse 15, saying of Jesus, “How does this Man know letters, having never studied?” Jesus answered them and said, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority. He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true; and no unrighteousness is in Him.”
Are there those today who “speak from themselves seeking his/her own glory”? Or are there those today sent by Christ to unveil His eternal Truth? In John17:6-8 Jesus said, “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; AND THEY HAVE RECEIVED THEM, and have known surely that I came forth from You (or out of Him!); and they have believed that You sent Me.”
“Sheltered From Or Sheltered IN The Storms of Life”? I close this teaching with an old, old hymn written by Mrs. Cecil F. Alexander and William H. Jude found in “The Old American Hymnal”, composed by Robert H. Coleman in 1933! It’s entitled “Jesus Calls Us”, saying: “Jesus calls us; o’er the tumult of our life’s wild, restless sea, Day by day His sweet voice sounds, Saying, “Christian follow Me.”
Jesus calls us from the worship Of the vain world’s golden store, From each idol that would keep us, Saying, “Christian, love Me more.”
In our joys and in our sorrows, Days of toil and hours of ease, Still He calls, in cares and pleasures, “Christian, love Me more than these.”
Jesus calls us: by Your mercies, Savior, may we hear Your call, Give our hearts to Your obedience, Serve and love You best of all.”
Give our hearts to His obedience? Did Jesus ever willfully go out opposed to the Father’s will? NO! He went out graciously centered and yielded to the reality of being “Sheltered In the storms of life”!! Amen?