Tag / Jesus calms the storm

by In Light Of The Cross

Do you Have Enough Faith NOT to ask Jesus to Calm the Storm?

Something always bothered me about the story about Jesus calming the storm, and why Jesus asked His disciples where their faith was? I thought they were showing faith when they asked Him to calm the storm. Then one day it finally dawned on me. Let’s look. 

As evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.” So, they took Jesus in the boat and started out, leaving the crowds behind (although other boats followed).  But soon a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water. Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke him up, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?” When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Silence! Be still!” Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm. 40 Then he asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” Mark 4:35-40 NLT

First it is important to notice that it was Jesus’ idea to cross the lake. Many times, we are following Jesus’ leading, but when things start to go wrong and we run into problems we start doubting our calling. I remember when I was living in Texas and got the call to be a Bible Worker in Florida. Everything seemed to be working out perfectly so I felt it was God’s will to go. While I was in the middle of what I considered to be a smooth transition, my aunt said something that surprised me. She said, “You are going to run into problems in Florida. But God will still be with you.” Her words proved true. Without going into detail not everything went as smooth at first as I thought it would. But God was with me and got me through those storms, until finally I was sailing on peaceful seas. When Jesus calls us, He is aware of the storms ahead. Sometimes He calls us into the storm. The question we need to ask ourselves, is not “Will everything work out smoothly?” The only question we need to ask ourselves is, “Did Jesus call me?” 

This leads me to why Jesus asked the disciples about their faith after He calmed the storm. I always thought He was questioning if He could calm the storm but that clearly was not the case. They knew He could calm the storm. That is why they were calling on Him. I believe what Jesus was really asking was, “Don’t you have any faith? Why did you need me to calm this storm? Why couldn’t you just ride this storm out with me?” 

If Joseph had never been sold and betrayed by his family, his dream of being a ruler never would have come true. If Naomi’s husband and sons had never died, she never would have gone back to her homeland with Ruth, where Ruth became an important role in the lineage of the Savior. If the early church had never been persecuted it never would have had to flee to spread the Gospel in foreign lands. It is often the storms of life that get us to where we need to be. Sailboats move by the wind, and if there is no wind there is no progress. Instead of asking Jesus to calm every storm our way, we need to have the faith to ride out the storm with Jesus and have enough faith to let Jesus take us wherever the storm needs to take us. 

A while back a friend shared with me an experience where his family abandoned him as a very small child by the side of the road. It was heartbreaking. As an adult my friend asked Jesus where He was when his family abandoned him at such an early age. He told me God opened his eyes, and immediately he relived the scene where He was abandoned, except this time He saw Jesus walking beside him on the side of the road, smiling at him with love. Not too long after that I went through a stressful situation, nothing like being abandoned by family or friends, but to me a storm, nonetheless. As I prayed about my “storm” one morning, I remembered my friend’s testimony. This may sound silly, but I just spent a few moments imagining myself in the boat with Jesus in the middle of the storm. I imagined Jesus and me just sitting together in the bottom of the boat smiling at each other, while the boat was tossed about on the waves and the disciples were all freaking out. I imagined Jesus smiling and winking at me assuring me everything was going to be okay, and there was no reason to freak out with the disciples. This gave me peace in the middle of the storm and of course everything worked out fine in the end. 

Recently I was on an airplane that hit some turbulence. I and many of the other passengers have experienced turbulence on a plane before so it did not alarm any of us. We just kept listening to our music and reading our books. I reminded myself I should stay just as calm when life hits turbulence. I should remain calm, and just ride out the storm with Jesus. Having enough faith to believe Jesus can calm the storm is one thing. Having enough faith to not ask Jesus to calm the storm, and just ride it out with Him is even greater. 

You may study this week’s Sabbath School lesson here.

by In Light Of The Cross

The Wind and Waves Get us to Where we Need to be

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I am writing today from the beautiful but sometimes stormy Tampa Bay area.

Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke him up, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?” When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Silence! Be still!” Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm. Then he asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” Mark 4:38-40 NLT

 

Besides Jesus and Jonah, I don’t know of too many people who take naps on boats during chaotic storms. I think I would be freaking out like the disciples. 18 year old Ellen Harmon found herself in the middle of storm on a steamboat in the north Atlantic. The boat rocked and tossed one lady out of her bed. Another lady screamed in terror, before asking Ellen if she was not terrified as well.

I told her I had made Christ my refuge, and if my work was done, I might as well lie in the bottom of the ocean as in any other place; but if my work was not done, all the waters of the ocean could not drown me. My trust was in God, that he would bring us safe to land if it was for his glory. –Ellen White, Testimonies for the Church,  Volume 1, Page 81.

Young Ellen could have been terrified like the disciples were during their storm, but instead she rested her faith in the love of Jesus. She was not afraid. She had faith that God would be what was best.

One day, while helping out at the church school where I give Bible studies, I was sharing the story of Jesus calming the storm. When I got to the end of the story where the water was all calm and peaceful, a third-grade boy raised his hand and asked, “How is the boat going to get anywhere now?” He was pointing out the obvious, that wind and waves are what carry a sail boat. Without any wind you can’t get anywhere! (We’re talking about boats in Jesus’ day.)

It was persecution that got the church to move and spread out, sharing the gospel around the world. Many people have been “forced” to pursue their dream careers after losing their mundane but “secure” jobs. Once, while riding my bicycle, I got caught in a torrential downpour. I put my cell phone in my pocket, but that was not enough. When I took it to the repair shop, because it quit working, water gushed out when they opened it up. However, they told me I was eligible for a free upgrade. I walked out of the store with a much nicer and newer phone, with nothing out of my pocket, thanks to the storm. A very simple illustration of how a storm got me to a better place, as I don’t have space to tell of bigger blessings from even greater storms.

At the end of the storm Jesus asked the disciples why they were afraid and had no faith. I always assumed He meant why they had no faith He could calm the storm, but fact is, that is exactly what they were asking Him to do. Maybe He was asking them why they needed Him to calm the storm? While some storms are scarier than others is it possible they all get us to where we need to be? Will we really get anywhere in life if Jesus calms every storm that comes our way? Are there times we should let the storm rage, and do like 18 year old Ellen, and rest our faith in Jesus, just like Jesus was resting in His Father’s love during His storm? (Don’t ask me why Jonah was resting during his storm-I have no idea!)  Sometimes it takes more faith to not ask for a miracle. With God’s love we can face the roughest storms and not be afraid. That’s what 18 year old Ellen Harmon did. I firmly believe, if Ellen Harmon had been in the boat during the storm with Jesus and the disciples, she would have been resting with Jesus, unafraid and full of faith in God’s love amidst the tremendous waves, instead of freaking out with the disciples.

Sometimes He calms the storm. Sometimes He calms His child.

You may study this week’s SS lesson here.

by In Light Of The Cross

Luke 8; Asking With Faith

I am writing today from the beautiful Tampa Bay area.

Luke 8:22 Now it came to pass on a certain day, that he went into a ship with his disciples: and he said unto them, Let us go over unto the other side of the lake. And they launched forth. 

 8:23       But as they sailed he fell asleep: and there came down a storm of wind on the lake; and they were filled [with water], and were in jeopardy. 

 8:24       And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Master, master, we perish. Then he arose, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water: and they ceased, and there was a calm. 

 8:25       And he said unto them, Where is your faith? And they being afraid wondered, saying one to another, What manner of man is this! for he commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey him. 

First of all I notice in this story that Jesus rebukes them while they came and ask him to do something about the storm. What more could they do? How was that a lack of faith? Aren’t we to come to Jesus with our problems? Is that not a sign of faith? Yes, the Bible says we are to come to Jesus with our problems, but it also tells us how, “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.” James 1:6 Funny James even references waves tossed with the winds. Maybe the disciples should have said, “Lord help us overcome this storm” instead of implying that they were going to perish. We must have faith and remember too, in times of storms, that sometimes Jesus calms the storm, and sometimes He calms His child, and lets the storm rage on. Peace does not mean there is no storm. Peace just means you are with Jesus in the storm.

Of course when Jesus calmed the storm, it did not just settle down for the little boat the disciples were on. The waters were calmed for everyone on the waters, believer and unbeliever alike. This is how it is, the blessings we ask and receive from God are to flow over and bless the rest of the world. We should ask nothing for ourselves, but for the whole world. Jesus never prayed “Give me my daily bread”, but rather, “Give us our daily bread.” In Daniel 2, Daniel asks God to tell him what the king dreamed so that he and the other non-believing wise men would be saved. As soon as God revealed the dream to Daniel, the first thing Daniel says to the King’s men was “Destroy not the wise men of Babylon.” So by Daniel’s prayer being answered the wise men of Babylon were saved as well. The world will never know or appreciate how many of its blessings it owes to the prayers of the believer.