4 Reasons To Trust The Sovereignty Of God



“He who sends the storm steers the vessel.”

– Thomas Adams

The God of the Storm

When Jonah tried to run away from God’s mission for Him, he escaped on a ship, but “the LORD hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up” (Jonah 1:4), for “he commanded and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea” (Psalm 107:25).  Jonah could not escape God’s will and so God literally hurled the storm to steer the vessel to where God wanted Jonah to go (to a great fish, then to Nineveh).

The God over the Storm

When Satan wanted to test Job’s faith in God, God allowed it, but he could not take Job’s life (Job 1:12), so one day a messenger came to Job and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, and behold, a great wind came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you” (John 1:18-19). Job knew God was sovereign, so all he could say was “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21).

The God Who steers the Storm

Storms can do nothing but by the will of God as we read with Jonah’s experience, so if God wants to, He can call up a reserve of “fire and hail, snow and mist, stormy wind fulfilling his word” (Psalm 148:8)!  Someday, God will rebuke the nations and He may use “the mountains before the wind and whirling dust before the storm” (Isaiah 17:13)method to do it.

The God Who Calms the Storm

Since it is “the Lord who makes the storm clouds” (Zech 10:1), He sovereignly allowed the disciples to be caught up in a storm but for His purposes.  One day, Jesus “got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they set out” (Luke 8:22), but “a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger” (Luke 8:23) and so they cried out to Jesus (good idea!) and Jesus “rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm” (Luke 8:24). The God Who made the storm is the God Who can calm the storm.

Conclusion

Thomas Adams is so right in saying, “He who sends the storm steers the vessel,” because He is the God of the storm, He is sovereign over the storm, He is the God who steers the storms, and He is the God Who calms the storm. Whatever storm you’re in right now, remember that God is using it to steer the vessel in which you are in.