Facing the Storms of Life
Luke 8:22-25: “One day Jesus said to His disciples, 'Lets go over to the other side of the lake'. So they got into a boat and set out. As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger. The disciples went and woke him, saying, 'Master, Master, we are going to drown!' He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided and all was calm. 'Where is your faith?' he asked his disciples. In fear and amazement they asked one another, 'Who is this'? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.”
In my job as a church pastor I regularly meet people who are going through a crisis. For example, they've been made unemployed; a doctor has recently gave a worrying diagnosis; a beloved child is going off the rails.
Often people describe their crisis by saying they are in a storm.
In the passage above we are told that Jesus' disciples found themselves in a storm, a storm so bad they genuinely believed they would die: “master, we are going to drown”.
It was natural for Jesus' disciples to fear for their lives when nature came against them that day. However, they forgot one important fact: Jesus was in the boat.
Look again at the Luke's words:
Jesus was with them when they got into the boat;
Jesus was with them when the wind began howling;
Jesus was with them when the first wave crashed;
Jesus was with them as the water came in.
Jesus had never left them. One commentary says: “how could they fear they would perish as long as Jesus was in the boat. Even though He was asleep, He is the Lord Almighty”.
Perhaps someone reading this needs reminded that although Jesus allows His people to enter storms; although He may take them into storms, Jesus will never abandon His people to storms.
Storms are more than a match for us, but they are no match for Jesus, Lord of creation. Psalm 95:5 puts it, “The oceans are His and He formed the dry land”.
Because the oceans and seas are His Luke says in v24 that Jesus “got up and rebuked the wind and raging waters”, and as He did, “the storm subsided and all was calm”.
“All was calm”. A word in season for someone going through one of the many storms life brings. If this is you come to Jesus Christ, Lord of creation, Lord of the storm, who with a command makes all things calm.