Facing our storms

By Lou Occhi

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/012922.cfm
2 Samuel 12:1-7a, 10-17
Mark 4:35-41

While we were still living in Mississippi, a friend of mine and I decided we would go to Ship Island to do some fishing. He had a 16-foot boat that could easily take us to the island on a nice day. As we left the harbor there was a large freighter that was preparing to enter the harbor. We were well clear of the freighter and didn’t see any problem. What we didn’t notice is that we were going into its wake. Before we knew it, we were in the wake and the waves were much larger than we anticipated. When we were between the waves, it looked as if there was a huge wall of water in front and behind us. The 16-foot boat now seemed very small. In a situation like this, the boat must be steered into the wave. If you hit the wave sideways, the boat will roll over.

Today’s reading from the gospel tells us the apostles got caught in a squall. Serious squalls can come up fast. Generally, clouds will start to form. Then the wind begins to pick up and get stronger quickly. Rain will start to come down heavily followed by thunder and lightning.

Imagine how the apostles must have felt when they got caught in a squall with rain pouring down on them and obscuring their vision. There were probably large waves and steering a boat into the waves with oars would have been extremely difficult. There was probably a lot of wind and lightning as well. Some of the apostles were experienced fishermen and knew how to handle a boat. This must have been an extremely violent storm for them to be frightened. In their panic, they woke Jesus up and told Him, “We are perishing!” Jesus calms the storm and asks “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?”

Well, we must all expect storms in our life. Sometimes they are weather related. Other times there are dilemmas in our life we have to face. Prior to today’ reading from Samuel it would be well to recount how David produced his own storm.

David’s army was fighting a war, but David remained in Jerusalem. One evening David was strolling about on the roof of the king’s house when he sees a beautiful woman bathing. There are storm clouds beginning to form. He inquires who the woman might be. He finds out the woman is Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah who is at the war. David then invites Bathsheba to his house and sleeps with her. Now winds are picking up and rain begins to fall. Sometime later Bathsheba sends a message to David that she is pregnant. The heavy rain rains start coming down and wind is getting strong. David sends for Uriah and questions him about the current state of the war. After some time discussing various issues, David tells Uriah to go home and bathe his feet. David hopes that Uriah would sleep with his wife and conclude he brought about her pregnancy. However, Uriah did not go home. Instead, Uriah slept at the entrance of the lord’s house with the other officers. 

In the morning, David asks Uriah why he did not go to his house. Uriah says that he could not go to his house while his men were fighting a war and sleeping in tents. The winds are starting to get stronger and the rain is pouring down. That night David invites Uriah to dinner. He feeds him a big meal and gets him drunk. Surely, Uriah will go home and sleep with his wife this time. Instead, Uriah sleeps with the officers again. The waves are getting bigger and the rain is fierce. David then send Uriah back to the army. He also sends a message to Joab to send Uriah to the front where fighting was most intense. He is then to pull his troops back and leave Uriah to be killed in battle. The storm is now intense. The wind is howling, the rain is blinding. There is intense thunder and lightning strikes. Joab sends a message back to David that the fighting was hard and Uriah was killed in battle. It appears that the storm has subsided.

We now look at today’s reading from Samuel. The Lord tells Nathan, a prophet, to go to David. Nathan asks David to judge a particular case. There is a rich man with large flocks and herds. There also was a poor man with one little ewe lamb he had bought. He nourished her and she grew up with him. She was like a daughter to him. Now the rich man had a guest. He could have taken a lamb from his flock. Instead, he took the ewe lamb from the poor man and fed his guest with her. Nathan then asks David for a judgement for the rich man. David answers that the rich man deserves death for not having pity on the poor man. Nathan then says to David, you are the man. The last lightning bolt hits and the storm is over. 

The Lord tells David, “The sword will never depart from your house because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah to be your wife.” David confesses to Nathan that he has sinned against the Lord. Nathan responds that the Lord, on His part has forgiven David’s sin, and he shall not die. In all of this David was concentrating on solving his problem rather than doing his part of repenting of his sin. Nathan continues that because he has spurned the Lord by his deed the child must die.

The Lord then struck the child that the wife of Uriah had borne and it became desperately ill. David prayed, fasted, and slept on the ground in sackcloth hoping that the Lord would spare the child. In the end, the child was taken by the Lord. In a way, a piece of David died with the child.

We all will face storms in our life. We may incur some serious illness. We may have financial problems. Friends and family may get sick and die. Sometimes we just can’t find a parking space. There are numerous problems in our life that we have to deal with. Often, there seems to be no solution. At no point in the whole story of the David/Bathsheba situation did we hear anything about David praying for help. He did not pray to resist the temptation. Once he had succumbed to the temptation, he did not repent and pray for a solution. 

We should never forget that all things are possible with God. God calls to do what the apostles in the boat should have done and had faith that the Lord will protect them from the storm. After all, the Lord was sleeping in the boat with them and he is in the boat with us. When we have a problem to solve and have no idea what to do, pray. God is with us 24/7, and always hears us.