Finding Rest in the Sovereign Surprise of the Spirit: How to “Sleep” through Any Storm
Okay, maybe not actually sleep — although, that is possible too — but, rather trust the Spirit so much that you can rest — mentally, emotionally, spiritually, physically — in the midst of any storm. At the end of the day, this looks like resting in His Sovereign, and often Surprising Power, to do whatever He wants whenever, wherever, however, and to whomever, he wants to. This is the type of faith that creates true rest. Faith at home, at work, or faith in the third place.
“At the end of the day, this looks like resting in His Sovereign, and often Surprising Power, to do whatever He wants whenever, wherever, however, and to whomever, he wants to.”
Rest In His Power to Recreate Whomever
In the Bible, the Holy Spirit — or the Spirit of God, or spirit — is often compared to the wind. Pneumatology is the study of the spirit, with the Greek word “pneuma” having its root meaning be “breath” or “spirit”. And, in the Gospel of John, when Jesus encounters Nicodemus to teach him about the importance of being born again, he says about the holy spirit’s role in the new birth…
7 “Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘you must be born again,’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” — John 3:7–8, ESV.
The wind is mysterious and invisible. You can’t see the wind, you can only see, hear, and feel the effects of the wind. Just like the weather, the Spirit cannot be predicted or forecasted. You cannot chart its origins or its path. It “blows where it wishes.” It is constantly surprising us with when, where, and how it shows up. And, with God the Father being the creator of the wind, Jesus the Son being the master of the wind with a word, and the spirit being like the wind with it’s restoring power, we can rest assured that we are in good hands no matter the storms we face. And yet, Jesus tells Nicodemus (and us, the readers) NOT to marvel or be amazed by this reality. In other words, we should not be surprised at the Spirit’s element of surprise. We should trust it and rest in it.
“So, we should not be surprised at the Spirit’s element of surprise. We should trust it and rest in it.”
Rest here looks like a faith that believes in the power of the Spirit to recreate people brand new — whoever he wants to. No matter the categories, classes, hierarchies, groups, labels, or separations we create to make ourselves feel righteous or superior, the Spirit will save whomever He wants to. Right or left. Red or blue. Republican or Democrat. Donkey or Elephant. Black Lives Matter, Blue Lives Matter, or All Lives Matter. Jew or Gentile. Slave or Free.
Rest in His Power to Rescue Whenever
On the one hand, the last thing we need during a global pandemic, economies on the edges of collapse, injustice protests, race riots, and growing tensions is another surprising force like the Spirit. However, on the other hand, this element of surprise is exactly what we need: it puts us in a place where we are more positioned to trust the leading of the Spirit, to let go of control of everything, and to be more creatures of the present moment. After all, as Franklin D. Roosevelt famously said, “a smooth sea never made a skilled sailor.” Sanctification brings many storms and seas that will only make us stronger, weathering us more skilled and prepared for future storms.
“After all, as Franklin D. Roosevelt famously said, ‘a smooth sea never made a skilled sailor.’”
One of my favorite miraculous encounters between Jesus and his disciples is “the calming of the storm”, a rescue mission specifically foretold in the gospel of Matthew, chapter 8 verse 23:
23 And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. 24 And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. 25 And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” 26 And he said to them, “Why are you John afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. 27 And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and the sea obey him?”
I am not sure how you may have been told this tale as a child, but it was not as if the disciples were overreacting or that the storm was just minor pond ripples that enabled Jesus was to keep napping. The text says, “the boat was being swamped by waves” and when they went to wake him they said, “save us, Lord, we are dying (or going to die).”
The disciples — many of whom were fearless fishermen by trade and would have known life at sea and all of its elements — were so frightened by this storm they were scared to death. And yet, Jesus was sleeping. Sleeping. I equate sleep here both literally and figuratively; he was literally sleeping and I believe he was figuratively resting (resting in His Father’s love and power). Jesus knew his own power — the power over creation from His Father — to control the creation and the forces of nature by simply speaking. And yet, he continued to rest and sleep until he heard their rescue cry. I imagine he awoke, rose, and spoke as calmly as the storm responded to his voice — “there was a great calm.” I even imagine that after he rebuked the disciples for their “little faith,” he sat down just as calmly and returned to sleep. The Prince of Peace resting during a deadly storm.
Notice too, Jesus’ mercy at work. He never belittled, dismissed, or reduced the power and dangers of the storm. He simply heard their cry for help, saved them, and then challenged them for their small faith to not rest in or believe that He had the power to rescue them from peril and death.
“He never belittled, dismissed, or reduced the power and dangers of the storm.”
Rest here looks like a faith that believes in the power to rescue people at any given time through any storm — whenever he wants to. During a global pandemic or a healthy season. During an economic crisis or a thriving economy. During a season of peace or protest and civil unrest. Because of His sovereignty, he will rescue whenever he wants. Because of His limitless mercy, he WILL answer us whenever we cry out for help.
Rest in His Power to Run Wherever
Freedom and hope exist where we stop boxing God in with man-made boundaries in the constructs of our minds. Perhaps no story captures this best than Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well in John chapter 4.
In this encounter, not only does Jesus expose and forgive her secret sins, but he dispels myths she believes about where to worship God: “neither on this mountain or Jerusalem,” John 4:21. The Jews believed God should be worshiped in Jerusalem; Samaritans believe he should be worshiped on their mountain. Mountains are irrelevant; place is no longer important when it comes to worshiping God. What matters is worshiping him in “spirit and truth,” those are the “true worshipers” that God is seeking. Because “God is spirit.” It’s not where you are but where your heart is. God is spirit, and spirit will not be bound by geography, topography, demographics, terrains, habitations, boundaries, borders, roads, or paths.
He is in hot pursuit of worshipers who worship Him from a proper place inside not outside. He is running after us and will run wherever he wants to in order to find us and have us.
Rest here looks like a faith that believes in the power of God as the spirit to run after us wherever he wants to. No particular place is sacred except the ground we are currently standing on.
“No particular place is sacred except the ground we are currently standing on.”
At work or at home. Gathered in a building on Sundays or watching a live stream from home. In essential jobs or non-essential. In cities or towns. In urban metros or the suburbs. In poor neighborhoods or wealthier ones. On a farm or downtown. In this camp or that camp. In China and North Korea or America and Europe. God will chase us and find us to have us as his own people to love and care for. No matter where you are, he will run to you. He will go wherever he wants to and has to.
Rest in His Powerful Presence
Finally, perhaps the greatest way to find rest through any storm is to lean into the power of the Spirit’s presence and what it gives us, revealed to us by Jesus in John 14 in four main ways:
- The Spirit is our Helper (John 14:16),
- The Spirit will be With Us forever (John 14:16),
- The Spirit will Teach Us all things (John 14:26),
- The Spirit will Remind Us of everything Jesus said (John 14:26).
I don’t know how much more practical and relevant you can get during our current crises where we feel helpless, alone, clueless, and forgetful of everything we have learned. We desperately need help. We need presence. We need to be taught. And we too easily forget what Jesus has told us. Thanks be to God that when Jesus left this earth for Heaven, he left us a helper/guide/counselor to give us what we need to follow Jesus and live out his mission. No matter the storm, the place, the person, the pathway.
If we can faithfully lean into the sovereign and surprising work of the Spirit during this present moment and all of the out-of-control chaos it brings, we will discover a divine rest that goes beyond anything this earth can promise to provide. And maybe, just maybe, we will be able to sleep during life’s greatest storms as Jesus did. And we will hear Jesus say, “well done, good and faithful servant” not “o you of little faith.”
