The Storm And A Cave
When most people hear of a storm coming they usually pay attention. A Storm depending on the size has different effects.
In 2019 I wrote this article after God had been speaking to me about the purpose of the coming storm.
When most people hear of a storm coming they usually pay attention. A Storm depending on the size has different effects. When we see the clouds and start to hear the thunder that’s when we start to become concerned, the louder the thunder the more fearful we become.
A storm has 4 Characteristics and abilities according to its size.
It has a very frightening appearance!
The elements it possesses are devastating and unstoppable. It can change the very landscape it passes over
It will have its way no matter what!
The end result of a massive storm is a major cleansing and a new beginning.
The storm that is upon us has all the characteristics of a Superstorm one which man has never seen, Christians have been praying for revival for many years now, and we are starting to see the outer bands of the storm coming ashore. And now we are afraid! We hear the thunder of the anti-gods and feel the winds of their threats and the first thing we want to do is find a cave of compromise and refuge, sound familiar.
The cave
“David, therefore, departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. So when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him. And everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him. So he became captain over them. And there were about four hundred men with him.”
I Samuel 22:1-2
The definition of Adullam is a hiding place. David and 400 hundred people were hiding from their storm and their storm had a name, Saul! The name Saul means asked for. Israel asked for a worldly King in defiance to God and he became their storm.
The cave of Elijah
“And there he went into a cave, and spent the night in that place; and behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and He said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” So he said, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they seek to take my life.”
I Kings 19:9-10
Elijah also faced a mighty storm and his first instinct was to run. When he heard the threat of the flood of the enemy and thunder of death and the winds of accusations he became fearful even-though God had proved Himself mightily. Elijah storm also had a name, jezebel. The name Jezebel means impure or wicked.
A place of revelation and destiny
In the cave of Adullam David entered, running scared and aimlessly from the storm, and exited as a king and a conquer. 400 fearful and discontented men became mighty men of war and became world-renowned. God changed the lives of men and altered the landscape of a kingdom with one mighty storm.
The cave of Elijah is a place of purpose and destiny
“Then the LORD said to him: “Go, return on your way to the Wilderness of Damascus; and when you arrive, anoint Hazael as king over Syria. Also, you shall anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi as king over Israel. And Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place. It shall be that whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, Jehu will kill; and whoever escapes the sword of Jehu, Elisha will kill. Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”
I Kings 19:15-18
While Elijah is hiding from his storm the lord asks him his purpose for being in the cave hiding like a coward. Even though the motive was fear of entering the cave, God used it to bring great revelation of who He is and who Elijah was in Him. He also received a revelation that he was not alone and that as always God has a plan and a purpose for His church.
The Author of the Storm
Here is the hard part to understand, God is the author of the storm, otherwise He allows it. Satan and his demons are the actual Storms but nothing is done unless He allows it. Jesus said all authority belongs to Him.
“And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.”
Matthew 28:18
Satan cannot muster a storm unless God allows and it’s always part of the great scheme of our Father. This storm is so faceted that it’s impossible to name all the different facets. To His people, It’s His refiner’s fire, it’s His potter’s wheel. To the world, it will be His sword, His judgment, and His wrath.
“For thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘Once more (it is a little while) I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land;”
Haggai 2:6
This storm that will shake heaven and earth is like nothing man has ever seen.
Men of God cry out for such a shaking, carnal men who call themselves Christian leaders cry out for church revivals entertainment sessions. They will be overtaken in this storm. God is not calling for storm parties or storm chasers but a Holy people refined by Him. An army of dry bones brought back to life by the very breath of God! “So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone. Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them over; but there was no breath in them. Also, He said to me, “Prophecy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on this slain, that they may live.” ’ ” So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army.”
Ezekiel 37:7-10
Why does God allow such a storm
“Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, and said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.” But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” So Samuel prayed to the LORD. And the LORD said to Samuel, “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt, even to this day—with which they have forsaken Me and served other gods—so they are doing to you also. Now, therefore, heed their voice. However, you shall solemnly forewarn them, and show them the behavior of the king who will reign over them.”
I Samuel 8:4-9
When God’s people reject God from being their king and ask for a worldly king they are asking for a religious icon a belief system that allows compromise. They are saying just as they said here in scripture they want to be like the world.
Jealously
“Then He said to me, “Son of man, lift your eyes now toward the north.” So I lifted my eyes toward the north, and there, north of the altar gate was this image of jealousy in the entrance. Furthermore, He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great abominations that the house of Israel commits here, to make Me go far away from My sanctuary? Now turn again, you will see greater abominations.”
So He brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, there was a hole in the wall. Then He said to me, “Son of man, dig into the wall”; and when I dug into the wall, there was a door. And He said to me, “Go in, and see the wicked abominations which they are doing there.” So I went in and saw, and there—every sort of creeping thing, abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel portrayed all around on the walls. And there stood before them seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, and in their midst stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan.
Each man had a censer in his hand, and a thick cloud of incense went up. Then He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the room of his idols? For they say, ‘The LORD does not see us, the LORD has forsaken the land.’ ” And He said to me, “Turn again, and you will see greater abominations that they are doing.” So He brought me to the door of the north gate of the LORD’s house; and to my dismay, women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz.
In this passage, God gives Ezekiel a glimpse at the heart of the church. But the first thing he sees is an image and that image is called jealousy another name for God. God is a jealous God, He is jealous over His church, He is jealous over His Bride.
This is the reason for the storm, not the raging of the unbelieving world but because of the rebellion of the church, the compromise of God’s people. Jesus said, I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”
John 15:5
When the church comes to a place where it thinks it can do God’s work without the Spirit of God, prepare for a storm.
Going through the motions
“Again David gathered all the choice men of Israel, thirty thousand. And David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baale Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, whose name is called by the Name, the LORD of Hosts, who dwells between the cherubim. So they set the ark of God on a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill; and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drove the new cart.”
II Samuel 6:1-3
The ark of God or the Ark of the Covenant, had been in Abinadab's house for twenty years and then stayed another three months in Obed-Edom’s house, why is this important? The Ark of God represented his presence! It was not just another piece of furniture. Israel for over twenty years had been conducting worship services without the presence of God, sounds familiar!
Speaking peace to the storm
Why does Jesus not just speak peace to the storm?
“And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat so that it was already filling. But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!”
Mark 4:37-41
Jesus did not calm the storm before His disciples had learned what He needed them to learn.
Storms are coming
You will never be able to weather a storm with fear and unbelief.
You need Jesus in the boat
Jesus does speak peace to the storm but not until it accomplishes what He destines it to do.
Cause and effect.....personal storms
In any big storm like a hurricane, there are many small storms or effects that enter into the equation, tornados, floods, winds, and hail. These I call personal storms, they are a part of the larger storm, cause, and effect. What God is doing is corporately he is also doing it personally.
I have faced many storms in my personal life. My first wife was killed in a car wreck, hit head-on by a drunk driver, she was 23 years old and 81/2 months pregnant and my 3-year-old son who was in the back seat was severely injured. A short time later my mother died of brain aneurism. In both of these storms, God changed the landscape of my life. My latest storm that is still brewing even as I am writing this, I was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis resulting in a double lung transplant. You ask where was Jesus in all these storms, right there with me in the boat. He had a plan for each storm. When Michael Angelo was asked how he made the statue of David, he replied, I just chipped away everything that was not him.
Each storm has chipped away everything that is not me! I now possess a new love for my Heavenly Father, His church, my family, and the lost.
“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed—”
II Corinthians 4:7-9
The counter storm
I love to read about God’s strategies in His word. God would stir up a country against Israel and use that country to punish Israel for their disobedience to Him and then destroy that country for doing it, usually using Israel to do so. The attack upon the church now and a greater attack that is coming is no more than part of the strategy of God to refine His church.
“And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”
Matthew 16:18
Jesus said He will have a church and the gates of hell will fight against it and bring ranging storms against it but the gates of hell will not win. People will be changed in this storm many will lose their lives like in any major storm but those that are His will lose their lives and gain His.
The final storm
“The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.”
Genesis 6:11-13
“But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.”
Matthew 24:37-39
In 1988 while praying at my house in Texas I saw a vision, in this vision I saw horses, they were very blurry like in a fog, I could see their breath like steam, then I saw images of people mounting up on these horses. I asked the Lord, what is this and he spoke to me, this is my Son preparing to make His return.
Growing up in church with my grandfather being our pastor I have a lot of fond memories but the one thing that stuck with me was him constantly saying Jesus is coming soon! get ready! Of course, being the type of person that I am I always figured we would go and eat lunch and then Jesus would appear. But Sunday after Sunday no Jesus so finally after much frustration I asked my grandfather when was Jesus coming! You say it every Sunday! His reply was, we are closer to His return than the last time I said it. It’s in a storm in which He will return!
