All of us are hit with trials in these two categories of our lives:

1.         Internal Storms

2.         External Storms

• Sally is crying because she is struggling with addiction.  ~Internal storm
• Joe found out a good friend has cancer.   ~External storm
• Jane is struggling with loneliness ~Internal storm
• Adam's home was destroyed by a fire last spring. ~External storm

Three Problems Storms

1.      They have a tendency to  Isolate Us

Storms make us feel as though we are alone in our situation, that no one else understands the trouble we are going through, that no one will be able to help us. .   

David felt isolated when he was being pursued by Saul, when he had to leave everything and flee to a cave.   He penned Psalm 13:1

How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me?   ~Psalm 13:1

Even the strongest of men in the midst of storms feel isolated.

How do we destroy isolation in our storms?    

Like all storms when you get in trouble you need to send out a distress signal: S. O. S.

When you feel isolated you need to Seek the Lord, keep your eyes fixed on Him.

²⁸ “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” ²⁹ “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. ³⁰ But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”  ~Matthew 14:28-30

You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you   ~Isaiah 26:3

The second problem with storms is:

2.         They Can Discourage Us

We get discouraged when we reduce God to man’s restraints, it’s always in the midst of my problems, my storms that I lean or have a tendency to limit God based on my human understanding of possibility.

Our strength fails, when stop allowing God to fill us up, we stop allowing Him to be the source of our strength in our storm.  When things, places and conditions become our refuge we get discouraged. 

S. eek the Lord

O. perate in His Power

We will overcome discouragement when we plugin in to the power of the Lord, when we allow the Lord to be our refuge, our strength, when we plug in to the Lord rather than trying to face the storm on our own.

David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam.

~1 Samuel 22:1 

Adullam translates to "Refuge"

God is our refuge, a strong tower, our hding place.   

Find your strength in Him, Operate in His Power.

Don't be afraid, for I am with you. Don't be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.

~Isaiah 41:10

Listen to what He says: 

• Don’t be afraid
• I am with you (God of the Universe, Alpha, Omega, Beginning, End)
• Don’t be discouraged
• I will strengthen you
• I will help you

The third problem with storms is they have tendency to:

3.         Overwhelm Us

We become overwhelmed when the weight of our trial becomes too big to carry.  And as result of trying to “shoulder” the problems ourselves, rather than letting God be God, we try to take the weight and then we get discouraged when nothing changes.    

 “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” ~Matthew 19:26b

S. eek the Lord

O. perate in His Power

S. urrender the Circumstance

If I am going to overcome being overwheelmed in my storms, I will have to surrender the storm to the Lord, give it to the one who can shoulder the problem, who has the strength sufficient to overcome any storm.  

Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken. ~Psalm 55:22