Calm within the Storm

"And when He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him.  And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but He was asleep.  And they went and woke Him, saying, 'Save us, Lord; we are perishing.'  And He said to them, 'Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?'  Then He rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.  And the men marveled, saying, 'What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey Him?'" ~ Matthew 8:23-27

There's something funny about this passage.  Did you catch it?  Jesus got into a boat and His disciples followed, and then a huge storm appeared.  Where did the storm come from?  Did it just whip up out of thin air?  I doubt it.  There were probably signs of bad weather well before the disciples even considered getting in the boat.  Yet they still followed Him and got in the boat.  Why?  Apparently they trusted Him to keep the storm away.  But the Lord had something else in mind.

The storm raged all around the boat, "so that the boat was being swamped by the waves."  The storm threatened to sink the boat, and what was Jesus doing?  Sleeping!  The disciples, on the other hand, were freaking out.  Just a little while ago they were perfectly willing to follow Jesus despite the signs of the approaching storm, but now they were afraid and beginning to question why they were crazy enough to follow their Teacher to their death.  Panicking, they quickly made Jesus aware of the situation He had gotten them into, as if the omniscient Son of God didn't already know.

And how did Jesus respond?  He essentially said, "Why are you afraid?  Don't you trust Me?  I brought you into this!  This didn't just happen by coincidence.  You followed me into the storm, and I will lead you out."  Then He turned to the storm and simply spoke truth into being: the peace that He had in the midst of the storm became physically manifest.  The way that the Lord considered the storm—as nothing at all—became reality.  Stillness was around them all along; He only had to open His disciples' eyes to recognize it and shut out any fear that the storm instilled in them (2 Kings 6:17).  Jesus modeled to His disciples the way that they were to react to any trouble that came their way: by preaching peace and God's promise in Romans 8:28 to themselves and to the storms in their lives.  If you look for stillness in a storm, God will give you eyes to find it.

In Psalm 108:1-2, David says, "My heart is steadfast, O God!  I will sing and make melody with all my being!  Awake, O harp and lyre!  I will awake the dawn!"  What does that last statement mean?  How can a person awake the dawn?  Well, I don't think he means it literally, but these two verses seem to give us a glimpse of his plan: to sing praises to God until morning comes—to speed the coming of daylight by worshiping rather than sitting around in the darkness, doing nothing.  Psalm 30:5b says, "Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes in the morning."  I think David is making a reference to this verse of hope and encouragement in Psalm 108:2.  Yes, joy comes in the morning; those who stay up all night waiting for morning will of course be glad when the sun rises over the horizon.  But joy can also bring the morning.  Just as Jesus had peace and rest in the midst of the storm before He spoke that peace into being for the disciples to see, when we preach peace to ourselves and take joy in knowing that God is working all things for our good, even in the difficult times, we start to not notice the storm around us.  And when we stop paying attention to the storm, it seems like everything is like a perfectly still, sunny day, and eventually that will become reality—not that we will respond any differently, because the Lord shows us how to see even darkness as light (Psalm 139:12).

The disciples expected to completely avoid the storm, but Jesus took them straight into it so that He could teach them something.  God doesn't promise us perfect circumstances—the prosperity gospel—for the rest of our lives after we make the commitment to follow Christ.  He does, however, promise us a mindset to consider every situation as perfect according to His plan.  I think it's also interesting to note that the disciples were afraid of dying in the storm as a result of their insanity in following Jesus, but years later, ten of the twelve would willingly die as a result of their unwillingness to forsake their Lord and Savior (minus Judas Iscariot, who committed suicide after betraying Jesus, and John the Beloved, who died of natural causes).  By the end of their lives, they had learned to find the "peace of God, which surpasses all understanding" (Philippians 4:7) in every situation, even in death.

So if you're facing a storm in your life right now, God has this message for you: "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.  Not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid"; "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 14:27, 16:33).  Let the Teacher preach this message to you.