Eye Of The Storm

 

Now you are aware, my beloved brethren!  Yet let every man be swift to hear, tardy to speak, tardy to anger. 

James 1: 19, Concordant New Testament 

When looked upon from far above the earth, a hurricane does not seem as threatening as it does for those who endure its wrath.  One of the most destructive forces in nature swirls around an area of perfectly calm and clear weather.  This is the eye of the storm.  As I was doing some reading this week, I thought of those few I've known in my own life who exhibited that amazing calmness when all around them was utter chaos.  This is indeed an admirable trait.  Former National Football League player and coach Tony Dungy titled his autobiography "Quiet Strength," for obvious reasons.  When you watch him, Dungy is comes off as one of the most calm individuals you have ever seen.  Quiet strength.  We've all known someone who walks in this way.  Those who seem to defy the hectic world that is swirling around them.  They seem to walk in the eye of the storm.  A few of the Godly men I have come to know have exhibited these characteristics.  What makes someone exhibit such a positive trait?  Well, I believe that genetics plays a key role in that.  Yet, one main ingredient for someone who walks in the eye of the storm is self-control.  Self-control, something many talk of but few seem to master.  To be able to remain calm and in control while all around me the world is in chaos is something I've worked on for many years.  Perhaps I don't have it in me.  Maybe I'm too much like my dad.  Either way, there are still times when I am not so much like that calm in the middle of the storm.  Times when once again I fall victim to the fast paced storms of life.  Nevertheless, I keep trying.  Scripture seems to lay out the framework for such an endeavor in the book of James.  It is James who calls the reader to swift to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger {James 1:19}.  Pretty sound advice.  Yet, difficult to put into action when the rubber hits the road.  Still, I don't believe that the Lord would present this in His word were it not possible for us to attain the ability to calmly walk through the eye of that storm.

For God gives us, not a spirit of timidity, but of power and of love and of sanity. 

2 Timothy 1: 7, Concordant New Testament

Before you go and sign up for some church driven study class on being a calmer, more-gentle person, realize one thing.  That is, we might already possess that ability.  The apostle Paul wrote to his beloved Timothy that the Lord has already given to us a spirit of timidity and sanity {2 Timothy 1:7}.  In translation, God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind.  Knowing this, ask yourself, what are you afraid of?  What is it that you fear which God cannot provide a way out?  I have been through more than a few stressful situations as of late, so I know all too well how that storm feels.  But I discovered something about myself not too long ago.  That with each storm that I pass through, there is that much more of a calmness about me.  It is as if the Lord was revealing to me the man I had forgotten I was.  He's always been there, just pushed aside by other memories.  It didn't take some church study for me to realize this.  On the contrary, God simply opened my eyes to who I truly am.  I am not that man who cowers in fear in the middle of the storm.  Who I am is the child of God who, when He looks upon me, He sees His beloved Son {Galatians 2:20}.  Storm or no storm, that is who I am.  

Are you indignant, and not sinning?  Do not let the sun be sinking on your vexation. 

Ephesians 4: 26, Concordant New Testament 

~Scott~