Focus Verse: The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken. – Psalm 34:18-20
Sometimes, it feels like things just can’t get any worse. Everything has already gone wrong, yet with each new day comes more bad news. In these moments, I find myself questioning God. “How much more?” “When are you going to step in and help?”
When I take the time to look closely, to look for God, that’s when I start to see that there is still good, even in the storms of life. That’s because God is there, He has always been there, in the midst of it all.
I’m not sure how it happens. What starts out as a perfectly normal day all of a sudden starts falling apart.
I’m reminded of the time when Jesus and His disciples went out on their boat after a long day of ministering to the crowds, just looking to get some rest. As Jesus was taking a nap, a fierce storm appeared out of nowhere. The waves were so intense that the boat started taking on water. (Mark 4:35-41)
Have you ever been sidelined by an unexpected situation? Things seem to go south all at once – you get a flat tire on the way home from work, only to arrive home to find out your refrigerator went out. That night your dog gets sick, and the next day, you and your spouse get in a fight over nothing. Tensions are high, and you are left wondering, what’s next?
That day on the Sea of Galilee, the disciples started frantically scooping water out of the boat, but it was only getting worse. The boat was filling up with water faster than they could scoop it, and was surely going to sink if the storm did not let up soon.
Meanwhile, Jesus slept.
Finally, giving up on their futile efforts, they ran in to where Jesus was resting. Rather than explaining to him the situation, they questioned him, “don’t you care if we drown?”
This question implies two things – first, they assumed Jesus already knew what was happening, and second, they mistook his calm nature as not caring.
Jesus was with them on the boat the whole time, in the midst of the storm. While the disciples panicked, Jesus calmly waited for them to come to Him.
I don’t know about you, but I am 100% guilty of doing this exact same thing. When the storms of life arise, calling on Jesus is usually not my first course of action. First, I try to fix the situation on my own. When that doesn’t seem to work, then I turn to God for help.
God is there the whole time, watching us run around in a panic. He is calm and patient, waiting for us to call on Him.
Three simple words are all it took for the storm to subside. “Peace, be still!”
The disciples were astonished, but Jesus questioned why they were so overcome with fear in the first place. Afterall, he was on the boat the entire time. He said, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
Wow! After all that He had done for them, after all the signs, and miracles, and wonders they had witnessed, they still didn’t have enough faith to know that Jesus could and would calm the storm.
What about you? How many times has God made His presence and power real to you, yet the next time everything seems to fall apart, you forget that God is right there, in the midst of it with you?
I challenge and encourage you to call on God first, to seek after Him for peace, and to rely on His power, not yours, to calm the storm.
What do you think?