The Perfect Storm pt. 2

If you’ve ever experienced a storm brewing in your life, you may wonder why I would dare call it “perfect.” To be honest, the word perfect sounds appealing, while the word storm sounds contradictory. When placed together—“The Perfect Storm”—it feels like a paradox that deserves deeper exploration.

It’s one thing to have a lingering concern or two; it’s another when new concerns start piling on top of the ones you’re already carrying. For example, maybe you’ve been believing God for supernatural healing in your body for a year or two, and while you are enduring the discomfort of illness, you suddenly face the loss of a job, unexpected expenses you cannot afford, a betrayal from a spouse, and a defiant child.

This is just one example of what a storm may look like for you or someone you know.

Nahum 1:3 states,

“The Lord is slow to anger but great in power; the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished. His way is in the whirlwind and the storm, and clouds are the dust of his feet”. 

Pay close attention.

What are tornadoes known for? Quite literally stirring up their surroundings, tossing things around—causing what looks like chaos, at least on the surface.

As we continue through Nahum, we find that the storm can symbolize both the removal of that which is not of God and the establishment of that which is. The “way of the Lord,” which is in “the whirlwind and the storm,” seems to produce both wrath and destruction AND deliverance and restoration. It’s almost as if one cannot exist without the other. Interesting, isn’t it?

This is why it is called “The Perfect Storm.” Because, as the saying goes, it “kills two birds with one stone”—or more accurately, it destroys one and delivers the other in a single act, if you catch the parallel.

It’s in the destruction that what is not meant to remain becomes recognizable, and vice versa—it’s in the exaltation that what is meant to remain becomes undeniable.

This is a storm that purges the wicked and exalts the righteous, that makes room for the new while removing what is no longer serving the will of God. So perhaps the storm also indicates the speed at which God intends to change your circumstances—or maybe God is simply bragging on you as He did with Job (only half joking, but hey… maybe).

So the real question is: how will you respond to your storm?

Begin by asking God what you are meant to learn throughout it. What is He trying to build within you, remove from you, purify in you, or awaken in you during this season? What is He trying to reveal about your everyday environment or the relationships you continue to entertain?

There is a reason for every season—especially the stormy ones.

Facts:

According to an online source, the purpose of a tornado is this:

“To oversimplify this a bit, a tornado (or any other atmospheric vortex) is the most efficient way to move air from one part of the atmosphere to another on its size and time scale. In fluid flow (whether gas or liquid), a vortex often forms when some kind of instability exists between one part of the fluid and another, and that difference is strong enough that the fluid needs to relocate mass quickly to restore more stable conditions again.” (The Basics About Tornadoes)

In other words: there is no restoration without instability first being exposed. If restoration is your story, then God must stabilize the instability—His way, not ours.

The storm is the result of a war—

“A vortex often forms when some kind of instability exists between one part of the fluid and another…”

And if that is true, then a shift into a new atmosphere or a new season is necessary for restoration to occur—

“…fluid needs to relocate mass quickly to restore more stable conditions again.”

God stabilizes by shifting.

He removes instability by relocating.

He restores by reordering.

That is why your storm is not random—it is intentional, controlled, theologically consistent, and spiritually strategic.

If God is allowing it, then something is being defeated, and something is being delivered—all at once.

A perfect storm, indeed.

Sources:

THE BASICS ABOUT TORNADOES. The online tornado FAQ (by Roger Edwards, SPC). (n.d.).https://www.spc.noaa.gov/faq/tornado/#:~:text=What%20is%20the%20purpose%20for,its%20size%20and%20time%20scale.