When The Storm Gets Boring

Not long ago I listened to a sermon on trials. I’ve heard many messages on them over the course of my life, as most Christians would likely say. And as I’ve mentioned in the past, my personal trial, the storm of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, has cast its cloud over me since birth. There has truly never been a reprieve from the pain of this lifelong tribulation! Because of this constant scenario, sermons like these have been essential to my spiritual growth. I have wrestled with them in my bitter days of confusion. I have cried through them in the pursuit of humble submission. I have been encouraged by them during bouts of depression. And, on my strongest days, I have clung to the promises of a greater purpose found in them!

Without having heard these messages at so many crucial points in my life, there’s no way I’d be the man I am today. I praise God for His faithfulness and perfect timing in this! I know He has been the one behind my every moment of growth. But, as I heard this most recent preaching on trials, something was different. I welcomed and appreciated the reminders throughout because we can never hear them enough. Yet, as I sat there listening, I had this deep sense that the Lord had already taught and applied every point that was being presented to me. He has so written the principles of perseverance through storms on my heart that I knew every specific angle before it was even spoken.

Honestly, I learned absolutely nothing from the teaching! And that doesn’t take any of the blessing of having heard the message away because its work was still done. I simply came out of hearing the words recognizing something new. Something incredible! I now felt an imperviousness to the pain and heartache that seems to shadow my days! This could only be explained through a supernatural transformation that God had wrought in me! He has done just that, and He’s been doing it for quite some time!

The best way I can describe it is that the storm has gotten boring. I have become so used to the trial that every irritation it offers can be met with a sarcastic roll of the eyes, a quick dusting of the pants, and I’m good to go! At times it’s even comical and I’m able to merely laugh it off. Verses like Isaiah 43:2, which says, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you.”, have almost come to be an obvious guarantee to me.

It feels nothing short of euphoric to be in this place. It’s just fantastic! Isaiah 54:17 has been all but realized in my life. “No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, And their righteousness is from Me,” Says the LORD.” Satan be losing this one, my friends!

That brings me to Romans 5:3-4, “And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.” This verse gives me the freedom to yawn in the face of my trial because all it is is a means to an end. And that end goal is to be made into the image of The Messiah through perseverance, character, and hope! That is what ultimately defines me. So the trial can irritate me through an unending amount of frustrations; and I can just shrug it off. It’s just a tool; it has no power over me. I control it. I am persistent. I am hopeful. Jesus Christ is in me! And a fuller redemption awaits on the other side!

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” – Romans‬ ‭8:18‬‬