As Christians we must realize that we will go through a storm or two in life. Storms are a part of our humanity. Jesus never promised that life would be easy. Unfortunately, many preachers have given the wrong impression to “sell” the Gospel message. Preachers have been telling people that life will be fantastic, full of joy, peace and happiness. Yes, Jesus will give you all these things, but that doesn’t mean that storms and trials are beyond you. In other words, you can have peace, joy and happiness in whatever storm you might be facing!
Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.So the men marveled, saying, “Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?” Matthew 8:23-27
Let’s look at a few things in this story. Hopefully, you will understand what storms are for and how you can overcome them.
Only His disciples were with Him
If you look at some of the earlier verses in the story you will find that the “multitudes” were following Jesus. However, before the storm came many people left Him. There are people today who follow Jesus when everything is convenient, but once there’s any sign of trouble or storms they run far from God. They want the peace and joy of serving Jesus, but they don’t want God to work in their lives. They don’t see God’s hands in the difficult times.
We must be like the disciples and be willing to go through the storms knowing that Jesus is there with us. We should never walk away or get mad at God when we go through storms because storms will strengthen us. Once we overcome a storm, we are strengthened to overcome more.
Jesus knew He had overcome the storm
The disciples panicked and wondered why they couldn’t find Jesus. When they did, he was sleeping peacefully during the storm. The disciples couldn’t understand it. They thought they were about to die and here was Jesus taking a nap but Jesus didn’t even flinch because He was calm in the storm.
The way that Jesus had this peace was because He knew that He had already overcome the storm. Once we know that Jesus is with us in the storm, we can have strength to overcome it! Therefore, we don’t need to panic or be afraid, we need to look to Jesus!
Like Jesus, we need to know that we have already overcome the storm because Jesus has given us everything that we need. We should see how Jesus sees. God has “raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus”. Therefore, we sit from a place of authority. As a result, we are above the storm. If we look at it straight on the storm looks big. However, to look at it from above it no longer looks so scary.
Your storm brings deliverance to others
It is very important to note that every writer of the Gospels after they spoke of this story of the storm, Jesus and His disciples ended up in Gergesenes. This was the place that they met two demon possessed men. In other words they had to go through to storm to meet these men.
Often, we must go through a storm to be able to help others. People need deliverance and they need to know the way. Others need to know that they can get through the storm. Since you have made it through the storm you can now help others know it can be done!
We can say that today’s storm is preparing you for what is to come. God has control of your life. He knows the people that you are going to meet. Therefore, He knows the storm you must face to prepare you for who you will encounter.
No longer be afraid of your storms. Most importantly, stop complaining about your storms. Understand their purpose. Know that you must come through it and it will be to benefit others too. God is on your side. He is for you!
Steven Stoffelsen
Author of Trusting God’s Timing
