20 Verses to Meditate on in the Middle of a Storm

“Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face” (Job 13:15).

When I remember the story of Job and how he had so much taken from him, yet he continued praising and blessing the Lord, I am reminded that praise and worship should be my frame of mind as well. When we focus on the Lord and praise Him for who He is, the things of this world begin to fade away. 

“Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings” (Psalm 17:8).

Did you know that you are precious to the Lord? You are the apple of His eye and He hides you in the shadow of His wings. You are covered by His love. You are hidden in Christ. Such a mystery, yet such comfort is found in knowing that we are covered by God and His love. 

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18).

God is near to the brokenhearted. He is close. He is near. And in His nearness, we find peace and joy despite our circumstances. I’m so thankful that we have this promise in His Word. He is near and He will save me. 

“Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God” (Psalm 42:5).

Sometimes when we are in the middle of a storm or trial we forget where our hope should be placed. We need the reminder that our hope is in God, not our circumstances. Sometimes just reminding our hearts of this truth is enough to bring us peace. 

“Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you, he will never let the righteous be shaken” (Psalm 55:22).

The Lord has offered to carry our burdens for us. Truly, He is the only One who can take care of them. But, when we tell the Lord our burdens and surrender our trials to Him, He truly sustains us. He carries our burdens but He carries us through them. 

“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Psalm 73:26).

This has been the prayer of my heart so many times, my flesh and heart fail so often - daily - yet, I need the reminder that GOD is my strength. When I try to find strength on my own and find satisfaction in things other than Jesus, I am most certainly going to run out of peace fast. God alone is my strength and my portion. He has given me all I need in Himself. 

“I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:19-23).

When we remember our trials and the bitterness that may have taken place in our hearts, we get down. When we focus on our troubles, the peace leaves us. When we look at the circumstances around us and how discouraging things taking place in our world may be, we will be troubled and downtrodden. YET, we must remind our hearts that BECAUSE of God’s love we are not consumed, His mercies and His compassions never fail. His mercies are new every morning. 

“But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint” (Isaiah 40:31).

When we place our hope in the Lord, and not in other people or our circumstances, He strengthens us. Isn’t that such a beautiful promise? When we hope in Him, He makes us strong. 

“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10).

Another beautiful promise in the Word of God is that He is with us. Always. We need not be dismayed, our God is God and we are not. It may seem frustrating that we aren’t in control of what is happening around us, but it also brings great freedom to realize that we don’t have to hold the whole world in our hands like God does. He is in charge. Not me. Not only is He always with us, but He upholds us. Sometimes we aren’t capable of holding ourselves up, I might even venture to say we shouldn’t even try. But, there is assurance and peace in knowing that God will uphold us when we are too weary to go on. 

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” (Isaiah 43:18-19).

This verse was written for me! I tend to dwell on the negative and to dwell on what I did wrong in the past. But, this verse tells us to not dwell on the past, to forget the former things. Why? Because our God is a God of NEW beginnings, He makes us into a NEW creation, He is always doing something new! Praise Him! 

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

The Lord wants us to come to Him, to tell Him our burdens, to not carry them ourselves. He promises to give us rest. Sometimes we must be intentional about leaving our burdens with God. In our flesh we think that we can do a better job or we might be able to more quickly solve our problems. However, that thinking is so faulty and we must remind our hearts that we know God wants good for us and to patiently wait for Him and He will give us rest. 

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:27).

God’s Word is so full of these precious promises, what a wonderful reminder to not neglect His Word! We have such a treasure in this passage as well. God has given us His peace. This is not a gift to take lightly. We are also reminded that the peace of God doesn’t look like what the world gives us. So often we are caught up in what is happening in our world, we forget that we must fix our eyes on Jesus and then we receive that perfect peace that passes all understanding. His peace isn’t like anything else in this world. I’m so thankful. 

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

In John 16 Jesus tells His disciples many things and He tells them these things so they will have peace. He tells the disciples that they will face trouble in this world, but to not let that trouble overtake us because He has overcome the world. We must constantly remind our hearts that the victory is already ours in Christ. We have an eternity with God to look forward to. This world is not our home. 

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13).

This is a beautiful verse to pray and ask God to fill us with all hope, joy and peace as we trust Him. We must be intentional and assertive about placing our trust in God and not in man or our circumstances. When we trust in Him, we begin to overflow with hope given to us by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).

When everything is falling apart around us, we can be reminded that God has given us grace for each moment. And His grace is sufficient to meet us in each and every situation we encounter. We need not worry that we feel weak and helpless. Christ’s power is made perfect in weakness. He is our strength. 

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you” (Philippians 4:8-9).

This verse was placed in the Bible just for me, I know it. My tendency is to dwell on the negative so often. I have to constantly train my mind and transform my thinking with the power of God’s Word and with the truth of His Word. I must fix my eyes on Jesus and what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely and admirable. 

“Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.  I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:24-27).

I love this portion of Paul’s letter to the Colossians. He tells us where our hope is found: Christ in us. Christ in us is the hope of glory. We forget that we have been given the gift of His very life to live inside us. We have died to ourselves, but Christ is alive in us. And because He is alive in us, hope is alive. He truly is our living hope. 

“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure” (Hebrews 6:19).

The anchor on a ship holds the ship firm and secure. Our anchor of hope in Christ (Christ in me) holds us firm and secure. We can’t find our security in ourselves or our circumstances or our material items. When we place our hope in those things, it’s not secure. But our hope in Christ has always been and always will be secure. 

“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23).

Not only is our hope in Christ secure, but the One who has promised us this hope is faithful. Great is His faithfulness to us. We can trust His promises. Let us hold unswervingly to this hope we have in Christ, let us hold tighter to Christ than any of the things of this world. Let us cling to Jesus, because He is faithful. 

“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).

Why should we give God our burdens? Why should we trust Him with our anxieties and worries? Why should we trust our problems to God? Because He cares for us. In our darkest moments, we can remember that He cares. 

He hasn’t promised that we will never face trials in this life, but He has promised to never leave or forsake us. He didn’t promise that life would be easy, but He promised to give us peace and grace for each moment. His grace is sufficient no matter what our tomorrow holds. Cling to the promises of God in the midst of the storms of this life. His promises are true and He is faithful. 

Candace Crabtree is just a broken mama thankful for grace and new mercies every morning. She and her husband live in East Tennessee where they homeschool their 3 kids. Candace also enjoys teaching piano, coffee, good books and blogging at His Mercy Is New. On her blog she shares encouragement for weary women from God's Word along with resources for learning to pray the Scriptures. 

*Images courtesy of: Thinkstock, Unsplash