Storms NOT From God

Not every storm comes from God.  Just because God is able to cause a storm does not mean that every storm is from God.  Hurricanes come, but they aren’t necessarily God’s judgment.  I am an insurance agent.  Even before I began doing home insurance, it always annoyed me that hurricanes were called “acts of God” in insurance terminology.  In Mark 4, there was a storm, but God did not allow the storm.

Mark 4:37-40 – “And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.  And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?  And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.   And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful?  How is it that ye have no faith?”

With your mind still on that point, think about this:  Once, in the previous chapter of Mark 3, when Jesus was casting demons out of people, religious leaders accused Him of using demons to cast out demons.  Jesus said, “…How can Satan cast out Satan?  If a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.  If a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand. If Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end” (Mark 3:23-26).

Take that idea and apply it to the storm of Mark 4.  If God cast out God, He is divided against Himself and the kingdom of God cannot stand.  If the storm was from God, then Jesus shouldn’t have rebuked it.  That would be the same as God working against Himself.  We should conclude that the storm was either from Satan or was just a product of nature, but not that it was from God.

God Did Not Allow the Storm

You may agree with all of those points, just to say, “yeah, but God allowed the storm”.  First, understand that through our own faith, everything is possible (Matt 17:20).  That is one reason why Jesus corrected His students.  God does NOT allow us to go through storms, we allow ourselves to go through them.  Through Jesus, God did what He could to give us the ability to stop the power of the enemy and yes, even natural disasters like storms (Luke 10:19).  If we have power over our situations, then it’s not God doing the allowing, it is us.  “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Rom 8:32)  If you think God is willing to give His son for you but isn’t willing to answer your prayers in Jesus name then you are an idiot.  That’s as dumb as believing that someone is willing to freely give you $1,000,000 but not willing to give you $10.  If God has equipped you to handle your problems, then you ought to handle them and not blame God for what He has made you responsible of.

The picture that you probably have in your mind is of God standing by passively watching problems, casually allowing them to exist so that we can learn lessons.  But did you know that God isn’t everywhere, looking at everything, and also doesn’t know all things until He searches them out?  God didn’t give Satan power either.  Satan’s power came through lies and deceiving.  God sent Jesus to destroy Satan’s works (1John 3:8), not to permit them or approve them.