GOD'S WAY OF STOPPING THE PERFECT STORM

 

GOD’S WAY OF STOPPING THE PERFECT STORM
I congratulated Shelley: “Wow, you’ve lost 90 pounds, and you look awesome!” She didn’t even smile, “I don’t feel like it. I just can’t see any difference.” Ninety pounds and she couldn’t see any difference? Everyone could see it, but she couldn’t. She told me that she was having problems in her family and wasn’t allowed to see her grandson. And there were issues with work that were exasperating. She was spiraling downhill and attacked from all sides. This chain of events is what I call the perfect storm.

“The perfect storm” is a term meteorologists use to describe a storm of astronomical power and devastation. It’s caused by several separate events mobilizing to drastically aggravate the circumstances and produce a storm of extreme magnitude.

Sometimes we feel like our lives are thrown into that kind of storm—no way out, nowhere to turn for safety, no rest, no escape. Swirling in the perfect storm makes us feel like we’re drowning and we can hardly breathe.

In Psalm 18:5 David says: “The sorrows of hell compassed me about.” The original Hebrew for “sorrows” translates “a noose tied together twisting around so that there is no escape.” And the Hebrew for “compasses” means “whirl around on every side, surround, besiege, and enclose.” When we’ve felt attacked, hurt from every side and spiraling uncontrollably down, this is what David is describing here in Psalm 18.

David didn’t mind telling God that the enemy was too strong for him. Like in the movie titled “The Perfect Storm,” even the strongest and the smartest guy found that there was no escape. Like that guy, sometimes we have to admit that we honestly can’t handle it, and that’s okay with God.

What happens when this overwhelming storm of attacks surrounds a person? They can get swallowed up like Jonah, or nearly drowned in a hurricane like Paul (Acts 27) or pulled down in agony and terror like David. I’ve seen people end up in the hospital, or in my case one time, I fell into a long and miserable suicidal depression.

This kind of intense spiraling spiritual attack is no small matter. The oppressiveness mounts up like floods, and the pot gets stirred around and around by Satan himself. We have to remember that it’s not the people who are attacking us, but the demons that are behind the very thoughts and actions of the evil that comes against us.

But our God is much more powerful than anything Satan can manipulate. I’ve seen from studying different records in the Bible that God has a specific remedy for the perfect storm.

When David called on God to help him, God got up off His throne, and He roared:

The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire.

Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them. Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils” (Ps. 18:13-15).

God said He “discomfited” them, which in Hebrew means He made an uproar; He agitated them and destroyed them.  In verse 15, we’re told that God discomfited them with a loud “rebuke at the blast of the breath of his nostrils.” The Bible also says in that verse that the roots of the attacks on David were “discovered.” The Hebrew for “discovered” means the demons were “exposed, shamelessly revealed, stripped and exiled.” I love that.

At the blast of God’s breath, David was sprung out from Saul’s attempts to destroy him. A blast from God and Jonah was thrown safely onto the beach. By the loud, strong words of Paul, the broken-up ship was hurled to shore, but all lives were saved, including his.

When I saw the perfect storm of spiritual attack on my friend Shelley, God gave me strong, loud words of deliverance to shout out, in the name of Jesus Christ. I didn’t have to be there in her presence for Satan and his devils to hear God’s rebuke. The demons were exposed and defeated!

In just a couple hours I got confirmation of her deliverance: She posted a new picture of herself in her skinny jeans and a great big smile, and another photo showing a current snapshot of her with her grandson. I found out later that the work issues also turned out to her benefit.

When confronted with this kind of perfect storm situation, we need to shout or speak with a strong word, not a polite asking. Think about yelling at a sports event. Even the quietest and meekest can get up a good yell.

Clear your lungs and your life with a good shout! It has to be from the standpoint of believing in what you’re doing and believing in the power of our God to rescue. The Lord will give the words. We just have to start. No devil, not Satan himself, can stand up against the mighty roar of our God! Believe and receive.

Our God is greater than any storm.

Love, Carolyn

QUESTIONS AND EASY CHALLENGES

1. Have you ever brushed off a compliment? Why do you think you did that?

2. How do meteorologists describe a perfect storm? How would you describe a perfect storm in someone’s life? Give a few examples – real or hypothetical.

3. Is there shame in admitting to not being able to handle something? Give two examples of people in the Bible who admitted weakness or failure.

4. How does God handle a perfect storm? Give an example from the Bible. Give an example from your life if you can recall one.

5. Have you ever shouted at demons like you shout at a sports event? Do you think you might try it?