Hello,

I have been a computer geek for over ten years. By that I mean that I have made my living, supported my family, and found a career in working with computers. I have done most all there is to do related to computer hardware over the past decade. When I started working, I was fascinated with building sub-$1000 computers. Now I design systems that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. I have also worked for a few different companies. Interestingly, every company I have worked for has been eventually bought out by another company. (MCI was bought by WorldCom, TRW was bought by Northrop Grumman, and MCI was bought by Verizon.) Now, I work for Verizon doing what I love – I genuinely love my job. But with every big purchase comes some trimming.

Verizon just confirmed the rumors that there will be some layoffs at the end of the summer. While I do not feel worried about my position, there are many around me who are freaking out. This has caused me to do some thinking.

There seems to be a natural tendency for people to freak out when a storm is coming. Why do we freak out if we can see it coming? That is like your daughter being a senior in High School and you freak out about how to pay for her college education. Hello? Did you not see that one coming? Wisdom is being able to take a situation and discern what is going to happen. Wisdom is making the right choices after taking into account the future possibilities. A wise parent will plan ahead for college education long before she turns 18.

What should our response be to impending storms? Well – the Bible gives copious examples. Before David became King, he underwent a variety of trials and problems. The entire time that Saul was berating him and trying to kill him, David lived in a state of caution. David came to expect that Saul would treat him badly. He expected Saul would try to kill him again. After the first couple attempts on his life, David was well aware that Saul was dangerous. David understood that future storms would come. Added to that is the fact that David lived an intense of battle. Saul purposely put David on the front lines and David fought valiantly. Did he realize he could die? Of course he did! Storms were all around David.

How did David handle all these storms? Check out these verses from Psalm 16: (1-2) Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.” (5) The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. (8-9) I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. (11) You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

David understood where his focus was. I love this line: The Lord is my chosen portion. Is God your chosen portion? Or are you partaking of the portion of the world? Is your chosen portion one of freaking out at every storm?

In 2 Samuel 5, David becomes King of Israel (he was already King of Judah). The Israelites give three reasons why they want him to be their King: he is their brother, he is their warrior, and God has chosen him (you would think the last reason would be enough). I love what the Israelites say to David in verse 2: In times past, when Saul was king over us, it was you who led out and brought in Israel. David’s perseverance through all the trials resulted in his being King over the united Israel and Judah. Verse 1 says that all the tribes of Israel chose David. Understand that these tribes rarely agreed on much. It is not a little thing that they all agreed on and chose David to be their King.

In the movie The Perfect Storm, there is a ginormous storm coming towards our heroes on a fishing boat. One of the crew tries to convince the captain that they need to get out of there and avoid the storm. The captain says something like (I am paraphrasing), “We cannot avoid the storm. We will head straight into it and sail slow.” That is some profound theology, my friends. When storms are coming your way, and they will, why not embrace them instead of freak out? Do you believe in God? He may not protect you from harm or death, but you have to admit He allowed it all to happen.

My advice to you is to head straight into the storm and sail slow. And make God your chosen portion.

I love you all.

-z

Tags: david, samuel

This entry was posted by zac on Wednesday, June 7th, 2006 at 9:47 pm and is filed under Weekly Jib Jab. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.