psalm 77: the storms - 18th week friday

Psalm 77 our responsorial psalm uses the storm as a metaphor of the many difficulties we encounter in life.  The part which speaks of the storm however, was not read in today's psalm – it speaks of the clouds that poured out rain, the skies thundered, lightnings flashed at every side, there was the crashing of thunder with lightnings lighting up the world and the earth trembling and shaking.  And yet amidst all these troubles the wonders of God are revealed, and this is what is read to us this morning in our responsorial psalms, "what great god is there like our God?  You are the God who works wonders; among the peoples you have made known your power."

Isn't it that our troubles, our difficulties and trials can bring about so much good? 

Let us look back into our lives, as the psalm would want us to do, and see in hindsight the wonders which God wrought in our lives occasioned by the troubles and difficulties we were experiencing then, occasioned by the storms of life.

This seems to be the pattern of God's way of making us grow – losing one's life in order to find it, dying so that we might live.  It is in the storms of life that God reveals himself to us, not that we are asking for storms, but that every time we have to face difficulties, we are assured that God is revealing himself not just to us but also to others.  
In everything we should not be afraid and we should remain hopeful.