June marks the beginning of what many consider to be Hurricane Season. Anyone who has been in a hurricane or been affected by one knows the devastation they can cause. Technology is such that we cannot only see the hurricane as it happens, but we can see the tragedy it leaves in its wake. The same technology also provides us with an early warning system that is better than it ever has been to minimize the human element in that tragedy.

Life is full of storms. Sometimes we feel as if we are in the eye of the hurricane. There are storms throughout Scripture; often God’s own voice comes out a mighty wind. We will take a look at some of the great storms in Scripture, as well as apply storm-related lessons in our own lives.

The American Red Cross suggests the following items for a Hurricane Preparedness Kit. Take a look at this list and see if your group can come up with an analogy for life’s storms. (Example: Flashlight. After a horrendous personal storm, sometimes we want to sit in the dark and give up. A good friend or a kind word can be a like a flashlight. It doesn’t illuminate everything, but it can let us know we are not alone.) Your turn…

* Water – one gallon per person per day
* Non-perishable food items
* Flashlight
* Battery powered or hand crank radio
* Extra batteries
* First aid kid
* Seven-day back up on all medications
* Multi-purpose tool
* Copies of all personal documents
* Cell phones and chargers
* Maps of your area
* Emergency blanket
* Extra sets of car and house keys
* Manual can opener
* Whistle
* Matches
* Rain gear
* Towels
* House hold bleach (for sterilizing water)
* Duct tape
* Scissors
* Plastic Sheeting

The Flood
The story of the great flood occurs in the Book of Genesis. The first drops of water occur in Genesis 6, and the rainbow appears in Genesis 8. Read this story in Scripture and talk about everything you remember about the story.

God sends the storm essentially so He can start fresh, wiping out nearly all of His creation. When was the last time you deleted an entire file or pitched an art project in the trash and began again? Did you try and fix it first? Have you ever started over several times before you were satisfied?

The idea of 40 days and 40 nights of rain is great for Sunday School books, but Noah and his family were on the ark for nearly a year after it quit raining. What would happen if you had to spend an entire year with just your family, unable to go anywhere? How would you spend your time? Would you consider all your tech for an entire week? What if the choice was not yours?

After the storm, Noah sent out ravens and doves to see if they could find a place to land or would have to return to the ark. Finally, a dove returned with an olive branch in its mouth. To Noah, this was a great sign of hope. Talk about a time when you had been through something horrific (the death of a family member, parents’ divorce, an emotional break up). What leaf of hope did someone give you that made your realize the storm was over and you could hope again?

Job
The Book of Job tells us the difficult story of a man who loses everything, almost all at once; yet he somehow manages to hold onto his faith. He did not question God; he just got really, really mad at God. Job’s rant is one of the greatest rants ever screamed and Job said it all into a storm…shaking his fist at the sky. Starting in Job 38, God answered Job, His voice “answering from out of the storm.” God seemed to be saying, “You think you can come at Me, bro?”

Read God’s response to Job’s complaint aloud with your group. Stand in a circle and take turns reading each verse. Put some emotion into it. See how quickly the passage starts to move around the circle like a hurricane.

Which of these verses struck you the most? Explain.

God in this story sometimes can seem really mean based on the casual way He seems to take everything from a guy who He just called a faithful servant. Do you think God still allows things to happen this way with His people?

At the end of the story, Job got everything back that God had taken away. We can assume God knew how this was going end, but Job did not. If you knew how some of your stories were going to end, would that make it easier? Would you learn as much?

Sometimes we like to have a friendly God, the Kind Old Man with white hair who wears a #1 Dad hoodie. This is not that God. Psalms 99 in its entirety seems to say, “He is not your buddy. He is your God.”

Do you think we lose respect for God when we humanize Him, or does it work the other way around? Explain.

Jesus Calms the Storm
Read Luke 8:22-25.
The lesson of this storm seems to come from what is not being said. Jesus asked, “Where is your faith?” but that question may have been asked to get a reaction rather than an answer. Jesus told the disciples they were going to the other side of the lake. If the Son of God says, “We’re going to the other side of the lake,” is there really anything that could prevent that from happening?

If Jesus said, “I will be with you always,” why do we still feel alone sometimes?

Why do we forget all about the eternal presence of God when we are in the middle of a crisis? When one of life’s storms comes up suddenl, we often think God is mad at us or we’re being punished. Why is it easier to think we are being punished with a storm rather than think, “Oh, the storm is happening. God will see us through.”

Have you ever looked back on a storm and realized afterward that you weren’t alone at all? Talk about that.

Psalm 29
Choose your student with the best Mufasa voice and have him or her read Psalms 29 aloud.

This was one of those psalms for which the intended audience was everyone.

How do you know when a storm is coming?

How does your body (and mind) react when you hear a distant thunder?

Do you react differently if you have been through a storm before?

A singer named Murry McLaughlin wrote a song in the ’70s titled “If the Wind Could Blow My Troubles Away.” Here are some of the lyrics.

If the wind could blow my troubles away.
I would stand in a hurricane.
Get washed away in the driving rain.
If the wind could blow my troubles away.

How is a storm cleansing?

Right now at this time in your life, if the wind was going to blow your troubles away, would you need a hurricane, a light summer breeze or some other weather condition?

1 Kings 19
Read the story of Elijah hiding out in a cave. Keep in mind Elijah had just won a my-God-is-bigger-than-your-God contest, and the queen was out to have him killed. Elijah was told to stand out on the rock because God was going to pass by. There was an earthquake, fire and a hurricane. The Bible says, “God was not in the hurricane.”

God’s voice whispered in Elijah’s ear after the devastation occurred and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

God was not in the hurricane.

We’re sort of back to the punishment question aren’t we? However, this one has a different ending. God was not in the hurricane. God showed up afterward and said, “What are you doing here?”

How does your church respond when there is a disaster in the community such as a fire or a hurricane? How does your church respond to disasters on the other side of the world?

What are some ways you can respond when a friend is going through a storm in his or her life?