It was evening, Jesus and His disciple were on a boat, sailing across the Sea of Galilee to the country of the Gadarenes. In the course of their voyage, there was a great windstorm that troubled the water violently and large waves emerged and were breaking into the boat such that the boat was becoming full and they were in danger of sinking. The disciples set to work, trying all they could to save the boat and their lives. But their effort did not pay off and the danger of their sinking was obvious to them.
However, Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they woke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” And Jesus woke up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. Afterward, He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?” (Mark 4:35-41; Matthew 8:23-27, Luke 8:22-25)
You and I most likely would’ve reacted the same way the disciples reacted in that boat if we were there. However, here a few lessons the disciples most likely learned and we too can learn from their extreme sailing experience:
- God has a solution for every storm in life.
- ‘With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible (Matthew 19:26).’
- Faith enables us to tap into God’s supernatural power to overcome any storm that will rear its ugly head in our lives.
- Even though Jesus is with us, we aren’t immune to problems, challenges, and unexpectedness.
- God knows and sees the storm before they occur in our lives but, we must call (pray) on Him to respond to the storm.
My brothers and sisters, Jesus already knew His disciples lacked faith hence the reason He took them on that very wet instructional journey. He wanted to use the event of the storm to teach His disciples about faith because He knew that in order for them (including us) to lead their lives as Christians they would need faith to propel the gospel message and to withstand the wave of persecution that was yet to come.
I pray this message helps someone today who is presently in the middle of storm and if that’s you remember that faith doesn’t always take you out of the storm, faith reminds you who has the power to calm the storm.
4GIVEN 