(Last year following a storm on the Sea of Galilee)
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Bay brought up a beloved memory the other day.
It’s not one I’ve forgotten, not by any means.
In fact, I think about it frequently at times when I walk in through the door of my house; however, this time, it struck a different chord within…
When our nephew, Andrew, was just a little guy, we came home from church one Sunday, to find that he had come visiting.
At the time, he lived next door, so this wasn’t an unusual occurrence, but he rarely came inside if we weren’t home.
Apparently, his family arrived back from services before we did and he had something on his mind that couldn’t wait, so he came on in to make himself at home.
However, that particular spring Sunday, the winds blew with no-small-force, pine cones and needles dropped, the hot tub cover was blown askew, and pillows from our deck chairs had landed in the yard.
We noticed all this as we drove into our carport; but, as we walked inside there stood Andrew at the large window overlooking the havoc.
Wee as he was at the time, he stood straight and as tall as his little height could get, arms outstretched parallel to the floor, eyes closed.
Interesting.
“Hey, bud, whatcha doing?”
His reply came quick, never missing a beat, “Calmin’ the wind. God’s helping.”
(Caesarea National Park)
(Maybe this had been his Sunday School lesson that day, I dunno… ?♀️)
Tucked away in my heart, this memory serves as a cute little story – one of many cute stories I can share about this particular nephew.
When Bay brought it up at the beginning of the week (and, honestly, I don’t even recall the context of it at this point), something stirred inside me…and, I knew, this many years later, a Biblical lesson needed to be heard with the ears of my heart.
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Oh, my!
There are a lot of storms that crash onto the shores of my world…
Like yours, there are some more intense than others.
If you’re like me, you look for ways to “calm” the wind; find order; manage the chaos; discover a quick-fix.
I really don’t like it when the pillows are blowing off the chairs in my world…and, I just want things to go back to some kind of normal.
So, it’s easy for me to want to take advantage of that dirty little seven-letter-word: CONTROL.
I want to make decisions that I think will make everything right, and remove any consequences.
It’s exactly what Sarah did, while she was still Sarai…
Remember this?
Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children (this storm is God’s fault*). Go in to my servant (since it is God’s fault, listen to me*); it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai…He went in to Hagar, and she conceived…and, Hagar bore Abram a son, and he called the name of his son, Ishmael (Genesis 16:1-2, 4, 15).
(*my words.)
We all know how this turned out, right?
We’re still suffering the long-term-consequences of Sarai’s “calming of the storm” (and, she didn’t even let God help!)…
So, when we, like Andrew, try to calm our storms, our way, with suggestions about how the Lord might help…OR NOT…
Well, I guess the question really is,
“How many Ishmael’s do we birth as we try to advance our plan as God’s plan?”
-Peter Scazerro-
The consequences might be just as dire, but on a personal level (vs national)…
We’re so much better off letting the Lord calm the storms, still the waves, and bring peace back into the boat….HIS WAY and in HIS TIMING.
It may be hard sitting in the waiting room; but, HIS WAY IS PERFECT.
In the meantime, that’s what I must remember, when tempted to be “calmin’ the wind;” and, maybe(?) allowing God to help.