Storing Up for the Storms

Scripture

What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

Romans 8:31 KJV

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Big idea

Summary

Graham opens with the example of a well-known football coach whose faith carried him through professional setbacks and being fired, using it to argue that spiritual endurance, like athletic or professional skill, must be trained for in advance rather than assembled during the crisis itself. Just as an athlete trains for years before competing and a cook gathers ingredients before baking, he argues Christians cannot expect to meet life's painful twists without resources already stored up. He deliberately avoids encouraging readers to dwell on hypothetical catastrophes, cautioning that some people become so consumed by fear of disaster that they never enjoy ordinary life, yet he still insists on the wisdom of quiet preparation. He acknowledges that most American Christians have faced only mild hardship compared to believers elsewhere, yet warns that rising secularism may soon test faith more seriously, urging readers to prepare now rather than assume comfort will continue indefinitely.

The chapter describes God's 'storehouse' of resources, pictured through a film scene of a starving nation receiving grain from an opened storehouse, and lists concrete steps for storing up strength: securing one's relationship with God and walking with Him daily, as several Old Testament figures did, even though walking with God did not spare all of them from suffering or death. Graham illustrates Scripture memorization vividly with a missionary imprisoned by occupying forces during World War II who memorized an entire smuggled Gospel one verse per night, emerging from years of captivity remarkably unshaken, and with his own wife's experience after a severe fall: having lost much of her memory, she found a single memorized verse return to comfort her, and later committed an entire chapter of Romans to memory as spiritual 'storehouse' material.

Graham turns to corporate preparation, prayer offered as a nation and a church before crisis arrives, illustrated by a king's prayer against a boasting enemy ruler, and to 'practicing the presence of Christ' through the popular question of what Jesus would do in any situation, drawn from a well-known novel about a congregation challenged to live that way for a year. He closes by emphasizing family and small-group faith as another storehouse resource, describing a son who reconciled his divorced parents, a prayer group that grew into a lasting support community, and a persecuted underground church that survived decades of hardship through small Bible-centered gatherings, concluding that being continually filled with God's Spirit, not a one-time experience, is what sustains believers through the storms still to come.

Key points

• Spiritual strength for suffering, like any skill, must be built up in advance rather than improvised during crisis.
• Comfortable circumstances should not be mistaken for permanent security from future testing or persecution.
• Memorizing Scripture provides an internal resource that cannot be taken away, even under imprisonment or memory loss.
• Corporate and family prayer are as vital to spiritual preparedness as personal devotion.
• Small, Bible-centered groups have historically sustained believers' faith even under severe persecution.

Illustrations & stories

• A well-known football coach's steady Christian faith carries him through being fired and through the difficult early years of building a struggling franchise.
• A missionary imprisoned during World War II smuggles in a single Gospel and memorizes one verse each night for three years, emerging from captivity with unusual joy despite the hardship.
• Graham's own wife, after a severe fall that erases much of her memory, finds a single Bible verse unexpectedly return to comfort her and later commits an entire chapter of Romans to memory.
• A biblical king responds to the taunts of a powerful enemy ruler not with military boasting but by taking the threat to God in prayer alongside a prophet.
• An underground church survives decades of persecution through small groups gathered quietly around smuggled and memorized Scripture.

Notable line

Only the strong Christian family unit can survive the increasing world crises.

Billy Graham Hope for the Troubled Heart, ch. 12, on preparing family life for coming hardship

For reflection and discussion

1. What spiritual 'storehouse' are you building right now that could sustain you in a future crisis?
2. Is there Scripture you have memorized that you could draw on if you lost access to a Bible?
3. How does your family or small group currently function as a source of shared spiritual strength?
4. What is one practical step you could take this week to 'store up' for a storm you haven't yet faced?