As most of you know, I now live in the land of palm trees. It’s quite a change for this born-and-raised Alabama girl, but it’s so exciting! Robert can attest that anytime I’ve ever seen a palm tree, I get really school-girl giddy. When we drove to Florida a couple of years ago for a gospel meeting, I got noticeably excited when we ventured into palm tree territory! There’s just something calming and gorgeous and smile-inducing about palm trees. Possibly because I always associated them with summertime and warmth.
But now, I live in the palmetto state. All year long, I’m surrounded by these palm trees, meaning that even this morning when it was 30 degrees our palm was still standing in the front yard. What I love about this, though, is that it reminds me of warmth even when it’s cold. It’s not warm outside at all, but the palm still stands. A promise that, come July, I will be overwhelmed with heat and sunshine!
I think I love the palm trees even more now that I see them in the cold, because it reminds me of my God.
Sometimes, it’s easy for us as humans to focus on the goodness of God when the blessings are flowing. How often do you see someone who wins a SuperBowl or Grammy thank God? When life and marriage and happiness and joy and love are abundant, we see God in our lives and we praise Him for His goodness. But what about when the storm crops up? That’s when the world blames God. The world sees a God that has forsaken. A God who isn’t aware of their suffering, and if He is, must not be a compassionate and loving God.
But that’s not God.
In Psalm 107, the following phrase is repeated four times:
Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness,
And for His wonderful works to the children of men!
In verses 23-32, we are introduced to seamen who go out to do business on the waters, and there’s a storm. The text says that they “They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, And are at their wits’ end.” That pretty much sums up life for me a lot of the time. When bad things happen, I am at my wits’ end. Stress and anxiety leave me feeling frazzled. But that is the moment that I need to see the palm tree in the cold.
When these men cried out to God, He delivered them. Psalm 107:29 says, “He calms the storm, so that its waves are still.” This is our God. The same God who calms the storms in our lives, if we’ll only cry out to Him. If we’ll only see past the crazy and stress, if we’ll stop blaming God for the bad things that happen and instead turn to Him, thank Him for His goodness, and ask that He give us strength, He’ll calm the storm. He’ll give us peace. He’ll give us everything we need!
No matter what you are going through in your life, God is there. If you are in the midst of a sunshiny, warm period of life, God is there, richly bestowing good gifts and blessings on your life (James 1:17). But, if you’re in a cold season, God is still there. He sees you and loves you and wants to calm your storms. Give thanks to Him, even in this time, because He is there. Caring for you. Loving you. Seeking a relationship with you.
O Lord, You are my God.
I will exalt You,
I will praise Your name,
For You have done wonderful things;
Your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.
For You have been a strength to the poor,
A strength to the needy in his distress,
A refuge from the storm,
A shade from the heat;
(Isaiah 25:1, 4)
