Sometimes life feels like being on a tiny, dilapidated boat in a big ocean in the midst of a giant storm. This feeling can be terrifying, as if impending doom surrounds us.
Unfortunately, sometimes life is like this.
Maybe your storm is being unemployed, and you’ve missed your mortgage for the past six months and an eviction notice is stapled to your door?
Perhaps your storm is watching a loved one slowly kill himself or herself through drug addiction?
Could your storm be that your marriage is hanging on by dental floss?
Whatever the circumstances, we can be sure that every one of us will go through many great storms in this life until we reach the shorelines of eternity. Jesus said for us to expect storms: “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 16:33).
So what do we do in the midst of the inevitable storm?
1) We must remember the One who created the ocean and who is sovereign over the storms.
God is not surprised you are in his ocean, in the midst of a violent storm. Sometimes he uses our free will actions to place us in storms just so we can get a glimpse of his rescuing power.
God knows our circumstances, and he allows us to be in them so we can know him more. The more we know him the more we will love him and be transformed into his son’s image (see Rom. 8:28–29). This transformation is his highest goal for our lives. If we are honest, we will admit that suffering inclines are hearts to seek God, doesn’t it?
2) We must remember the One who walks on water and that he tells us to not be afraid.
Two thousand years ago, Jesus' disciples were on a boat in a great storm; terror and fear filled their hearts as the seas raged around them. Jesus was nowhere to be found.
“Later that night, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. Shortly before dawn he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, because they all saw him and were terrified. Immediately he spoke to them and said, ’Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid’” (Mark 6:47–50).
Jesus is with you in the middle of the deepest storm. He says to your heart, “Take courage.”
3) We must remember to cry out to the One who will get in the boat with us and calm the storm.
“Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed” (Mark 6:51–52).
Jesus climbs into our boats, so to speak. He is familiar with our suffering because on the cross, all our tears, all our pain, all the storms we will pass through, he experienced. Through his resurrection he overcame and so will we.
Jesus loves to amaze his people when life seems like we are on a tiny boat, in a big ocean, in the midst of a great storm. Remember his sovereignty, his power, and his presence when you find yourself in rough waters.
Marinate on that.
