03_2023-3 – zionsake.org

Shalom in the Storm

By Eric Carlson in 03_2023-3 on March 1, 2023

Week after week (I feel like a broken record) our condition as a nation continues to worsen! Unbelievable we go from one crisis to the next without relent. There are numerous warnings telling us to prepare and brace ourselves as drought, famine, hyper-inflation, chaos, and anarchy will worsen. We see biblical examples of this in scripture. Israel, like America had received warnings! The Assyrians as Jonathan Cahn has taught had performed a similar 9/11 type terrorist attack against Israel. Yet Israel refused to be humbled and absolutely refused to see the cause of their tribulation. First, a terrorist attack on Northern Israel.

Isaiah 9:8-13. Adonai sent a word to Ya’akov, and it has fallen on Isra’el. (notice the Lords terminology here regarding a terrorist attack: A word from the Lord was sent to Yaakov. On 9/11 the Lord sent a word to America and it fell on America and its done so numerous times since yet the nation still will not repent.) 9 All the people know it (Ya’du: to know, perceive, discern, recognize, admit, acknowledge, confess), Efrayim and the inhabitants of Shomron. But they say in pride, in the arrogance of their hearts, 10 “The bricks have fallen, but we will rebuild with cut stone (Gazite stone: walkway to the Flight 93 memorial is lined with large cut stone blocks); the sycamore-fig trees have been chopped down, but we will replace them with cedars.” 11 So ADONAI has raised up Retzin’s foes against him and spurred on his enemies – 12 Aram from the east, P’lishtim from the west; and they devour Isra’el with an open mouth. Even after all this, his anger remains, his upraised hand still threatens. 13 Yet the people do not turn to the one striking them, they don’t seek ADONAI-Tzva’ot.

II Chronicles 36:11-16. Zedekiah was 21 years old when he became king and he reigned 11 years in Jerusalem. 12 He did evil in the sight of Adonai his God and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet who spoke from the mouth of Adonai. 13 He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar who had made him take an oath by God. He also stiffened his neck and hardened his heart so as not to turn to Adonai, the God of Israel. 14 Furthermore, all the leading kohanim and the people became very unfaithful, following all the abominations of the nations. They defiled the House of Adonai, which He had consecrated in Jerusalem. 15 Adonai, the God of their fathers, sent word to them through His messengers again and again, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place. 16 But they mocked the messengers of God and despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets until the wrath of Adonai rose against His people, until there was no remedy.

We must walk in Truth. What is truth? Truth is defined as the body of real things, events, and facts, the spiritual reality. The Living God of Israel is truth! God acts truthfully in that He keeps His word. Truth in Hebrew is ’emet {eh’-meth} which means firmness, faithfulness, sureness, reliability, stability, continuance, and trustworthiness. It is truth as spoken, as a testimony, as judgment, as divine instruction, and truth is a body of ethical, divine knowledge. Truth is an unalterable, steadfast trust in the God! God, His word, Yeshua, and Torah are absolute truths.

I Thessalonians 5:1-4. But you have no need to have anything written to you, brothers, about the times and dates when this will happen; 2 because you yourselves well know that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 When people are saying, “Everything is so peaceful and secure,” then destruction will suddenly come upon them, the way labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there is no way they will escape. 4 But you, brothers, are not in the dark (skotos {skot’-os}: Darkness, Blind, metaph: ignorance respecting divine things and human duties with the accompanying ungodliness and immorality, together with their consequent misery in hell), so that the Day should take you by surprise like a thief;

Matthew 24:6-8. You will hear the noise of wars nearby and the news of wars far off; see to it that you don’t become frightened. Such things must happen, but the end is yet to come. 7 For peoples will fight each other, nations will fight each other, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various parts of the world; 8 all this is but the beginning of the `birth pains.’(odin {o-deen’}: Pain, sorrow, travail, the pain of childbirth, birth pangs, intolerable anguish, in reference to the dire calamities preceding the advent of the Messiah).

Isaiah 54:14-17 In righteousness you will be established for it will not come near you. 15 Any alliance that forms against you will not be my doing; whoever tries to form such an alliance will fall because of you. 16 It is I who created the craftsman who blows on the coals and forges weapons suited to their purpose; I also created the destroyer to work havoc. 17 No weapon made will prevail against you. In court you will refute every accusation. The servants of ADONAI inherit all this; the reward for their righteousness is from me, “says ADONAI.

What a phenomenal promise of God. NO matter what weapon, alliance, or accusation that is formed, made, stated, or issued against you shall prosper or come to pass. That is the reward for righteousness says Adonai! Those who know Adonai, who walk in truth and righteousness before Him! Those who submit, obey, honor, and worship the King of Kings. Job, in the midst of His crisis, on the center of the maelstrom, in the center of His own storm has an epiphany, a realization that pulls him out of the storm.

There is a great difference between hearing about something and experiencing it yourself. I can only speak the word so far, head knowledge is only knowledge. God must become a matter of the heart, your heart must become circumcised, He must be real in your life, a realization of who God is transitioned Job from hearing about God to seeing God, to knowing Him, to observing Him, learn, regard, and observe Him! It was in this condition that God Healed, restored, and set Job free from the storm. Proverbs reveals a profound truth regarding a humble heart from those who repent when God reproves and the result for those who do not,

Proverbs 1:23-33. Repent when I reprove -I will pour out my spirit to you, I will make my words known to you. 24 Because you refused when I called, and no one paid attention when I put out my hand, 25 but instead you neglected my counsel and would not accept my reproof; 26 I, in turn, will laugh at your distress, and mock when terror comes over you 27 yes, when terror overtakes you like a storm and your disaster approaches like a whirlwind, when distress and trouble assail you. 28 Then they will call me, but I won’t answer; they will seek me earnestly, but they won’t find me. 29 Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of ADONAI, 30 they refused my counsel and despised my reproof. 31 So they will bear the consequences of their own way and be overfilled with their own schemes.

The Key is having God’s presence with you in the midst of any storm, any crisis is something you must develop before the storm. There is a difference here of having God with you vs Shalom in the Storm. God has given us two very profound examples of God’s servants having Shalom in the midst of the storm. Storms come in many different ways, Biblically, storms are metaphors for many different situations, crisis, attacks, tsuris from bad medical reports, strained or broken relationships, strife, hard decisions, losing your job, home foreclosure, addictions, bad circumstances, ungodly laws, unjust rulers, wars, rumor of wars, and on and on. I’ve heard the saying many times that if “you have Shalom in the midst of the storm, you’re in God’s will” which is not truth. The first example is Yeshua in a storm.

Mark 4:35-41. That day, when evening had come, Yeshua said to them, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.” 36 So, leaving the crowd behind, they took him just as he was, in the boat; and there were other boats with him. 37 A furious windstorm arose, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was close to being swamped. 38 But he was in the stern on a cushion, asleep. They woke him and said to him, “Rabbi, doesn’t it matter to you that we’re about to be killed?” 39 He awoke, rebuked (epitimao {ep-ee-tee-mah’-o}: to show honor to, to adjudge, chide, rebuke, reprove, censure severely, to admonish or charge sharply) the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” The wind subsided, and there was a dead calm. 40 He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you no trust even now?” 41 But they were terrified and asked each other, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the waves obey him?”

In the midst of a storm that is close to sinking the ship Yeshua is sleeping. Yeshua is modeling great trust, great Shalom to a crew that had spent their lives on the water, they had experienced many storms in the past, they were terrified. In a panic they awaken the sleeping Yeshua who rebukes and speaks to the weather while asking the Talmidim and crew why they are afraid, where’s your trust. Yeshua knows, He is established in righteousness as Isaiah 54 states so no weapon, article, vessel, coven, or storm will stand or prosper against Him.

In this knowledge and covenant relationship He is comfortably sleeping in the midst of the storm. In fact, He questions the resolve and trust of the crew. If they really knew who He was why were they in a such a panic and afraid? Maybe like Job they had heard of Him, they had head knowledge, but Yeshua had yet to become a reality in their life. They knew of Him but didn’t know Him! We have another person sleeping on a ship in the midst of a storm but under a completely different set of circumstances,

Jonah 1:1-10. The word of ADONAI came to Yonah the son of Amitai: 2 “Set out for the great city of Ninveh, and proclaim to it that their wickedness has come to my attention.” 3 But Yonah, in order to get away from ADONAI, prepared to escape to Tarshish. He went down to Yafo, found a ship headed for Tarshish, paid the fare and went aboard, intending to travel with them to Tarshish and get away from ADONAI. 4 However, ADONAI let loose over the sea a violent wind, which created such stormy conditions that the ship threatened to break to pieces. 5 The sailors were frightened, and each cried out to his god. They threw the cargo overboard to make the ship easier for them to control. Meanwhile, Yonah had gone down below into the hold, where he lay, fast asleep. 6 The ship’s captain found him and said to him, “What do you mean by sleeping? Get up! Call on your god! Maybe the god will remember us, and we won’t die.” 7 Then they said to each other, “Come, let’s draw lots to find out who is to blame for this calamity.” They drew lots, and Yonah was singled out. 8 They said to him, “Tell us now, why has this calamity come upon us? What work do you do? Where are you from? What is your country? Which is your people?” 9 He answered them, “I am a Hebrew; and I fear ADONAI, the God of heaven, who made both the sea and the dry land.” 10 At this the men grew very afraid and said to him, “What is this that you have done?” For the men knew he was trying to get away from ADONAI, since he had told them.

We are all familiar with the story Jonah tells he crew the Strom is His fault because He is rebelling against what God told him to do and that they should throw him overboard to stop the storm in verse 12. After trying to save the ship to no avail they finally throw Jonah overboard and immediately the storm ceased. Two storms, two men of God, two dipolar situations and results. What was the difference between Yeshua and Yonah? They were both calmly sleeping in Shalom in the midst of the storm. One was spared the storm the other became the victim of the storm. Yeshua was in complete Shalom and asleep because He was in God’s will, in obedience and righteousness. Jonah was in Shalom outside of God’s will. He knew what he was supposed to be doing but refused Gods commands so the storm became a vehicle of judgment against Him, the storm took him, he had no command over the weather. He was then swallowed by the fish for three days and three nights as Yeshua would be buried and dead for three day and three nights.

When the storm comes, and it is coming, next month, next year, two years or five years from now the storm, the great and terrible day of the Lord is coming! What will the storm mean for you? Where are you in the coming storm? Jonah was fast asleep in Shalom during the storm which was not a sign that he was in God’s will, in fact it was just the opposite. Don’t think you are right with God because you have Shalom in the Storm. When the storm comes will you have authority over it, rebuking it so that it cannot touch you or will the storm be the event of your judgment where you are thrown into it?

Category: 03_2023-3