Stop Worshiping the Storm!

“Don’t tell God how big your storm is, tell the storm how big your God is.”

In a recent visit to Lancaster County, PA, I was standing in a section of a book and crafts store where Christian merchandise was for sale. I looked on a shelf and saw a little glass plaque inscribed with the quote as stated above. I had never heard this saying before and it immediately was though it was simultaneously branded into my head and onto my heart. I thought it was so well said, that it serves as an easy reminder of how we can approach the trials in our lives.

We are worshipers. We worship as a natural part of everything we do. Worship is an act of assigning such things as value, attention, and resources to something. It is our determination of something’s “worth”. We constantly give our thoughts, words, and actions to what we value. This is worship. Our God calls us to worship and magnify Him. We are to assign “worth” and value to God, to who He is, to such attributes as His love, mercy, justice, and power. We are to value Him, honor Him, and believe Him. But how often are we easily tempted to worship and magnify our problems? How often do we worship the storm?

Every time we devote our attention to the greatness of our problems, we can easily become forgetful of the greatness of our God. Each thought, word, and action that magnifies our trials instead of God, serves to exalt the trial to a place of power and might that it seems nearly impossible to overcome. This worshiping of the storm can result in magnifying the trial to such a magnitude that we feel overwhelmed, fearful, and hopeless. This is how Satan works! He strives to get us to worship darkness while attempting to diminish our knowledge of God’s power. He exalts fear, while diminishing the knowledge of God’s loving kindness.

It is not that we completely ignore the challenges in our life. For even Abraham faced the fact that his body was as good as dead when God promised him a son. Abraham knew the reality of his situation, but he determined in his heart that God is faithful to His promises and such a natural obstacle as infertility was no match against the promises of the Living God!

Are you in a storm? Are you discouraged, fearful, or feeling hopeless? Have you been telling God, yourself, and others how big the storm is? If so, turn it around. Worship God! Keep telling the storm how big your God is and strength, hope, and peace will rise in you.