It's been quite a while since I posted on here friends. I apologize for the delay. It has been a crazy couple of months!
Today I want to write about something that I preached on a few months ago. It concerns everyone that I've ever talked to. I'm pretty sure that every person that reads this will be able to relate. If you can't...then either you are in denial or nothing has ever happened to you.
I want to write to you about storms today. There's a story in Mark chapter 4 that I love. It is one of my favorite passages in the new testament. I believe that it is so dear to me because I can relate to it so well. This is both good and bad. You'll understand why later.
'On that day, when evening had come, He said to them, "Let us go across to the other side." And leaving the crowd, they took Him with them in the boat, just as He was. And other boats were with Him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But He was in the stern, asleep on a cushion. And they woke Him and said to Him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" And He awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 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 winds and sea obey Him?
Mark 4:35-41
This passage tells us that Jesus gave a command to the disciples and then everyone got onto boats and started to follow what Jesus had said. He told them, "Let us go across to the other side." A simple enough command. After all, most of these men made their livelihoods from the sea before Jesus came and told them to follow Him. So they load up onto the boats and head out. Jesus was worn out from a long day of ministering and coming up with various parables, so He decides that the best thing for Him to do is take a siesta. Well while He is asleep a great tempest rose up and started battering the ship. At first I think that the men on the boats were like, "Heh...a little storm. We can handle this. We've seen worse in our day." Then it started getting stronger. And stronger. And stronger. And soon they could hardly see anything because of how strong the storm is. So then they panic.
It's at this part of the story that I usually find myself relating with what the men are going through. I usually find myself in the middle of a storm (a figurative storm mind you) panicking and completely losing my cool. I don't understand where the storm came from, or why it came. When I set sail there were clear skies and a slight breeze! WHERE DID THIS COME FROM!!!??? Can anyone else relate? So then they come to the next part of the story that sadly I can also relate to. Judgement of Jesus. Teacher! Don't you care that we are dying?!?!?! He wakes up, comes out, tells the storm to shut up, then rebukes them. Do you STILL not have any faith?
When I used to read this passage I had convinced myself that Jesus told them this because He wanted them to rebuke the storm themselves. I don't believe that to be the case any more. I believe now that He told them this because He didn't understand why they lost faith when He was still with them. They had seen Him perform miracles. They believed that He was the Son of God. They were convinced that He was the Messiah...yet they thought He would allow the ship to go down while He was on it? Yeah. That seems pretty retarded from my standpoint now. But I can relate to them. When a crisis hits my life...at first I try to handle it all on my own. I feel like there is no big deal to it. I can make it. But then it gets worse. I start freaking out. Then I start accusing God. You're just gonna let me sink! I can't believe that You would do this! DON'T YOU LOVE ME!?!?!
So, instead of trusting that what God said in Isaiah is true, (For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.) I start to panic and altogether lose my collective marbles. It's like there is an emergency panic button that the devil has control over. He wants us to lose our cool and start freaking out on Jesus. YOU DON'T EVEN CARE THAT WE'RE DYING!!!!
So these disciples of Jesus are crying out and claiming that their Savior and their Messiah was a bad Savior and a bad Messiah. They accused Him of not caring. He came out, calmed the storm, and then rebuked them for not having faith. Sometimes I feel like Jesus is sitting in heaven going, "Really? Are you STILL struggling to get it?" He's with us. When we accept Him into our lives we no longer have to live in fear. He didn't give us a spirit of fear, but of power, of love, and a sound mind. That's 2 Thessalonians 1:7 Any time there is fear, it is coming from the devil. Understand something friends, I am not here to cast stones. We all fall into this trap. We have all fallen short and been confused as to why stuff was going haywire in our lives. Questions are okay. God isn't going to be mad because we question Him. He can handle it. If He couldn't then He wouldn't be God. Ask questions, seek it out, but always remember, He is still seated on His throne. He is the anchor in the midst of the storm.
I've come to find that storms in our lives are usually a time of learning. Baron Batch wrote an incredible blog about this. You can find it here. It really changed the way that I look at storms and what their greater purpose is other than to cause mayhem and destruction.
If you'll notice in the scripture in Mark 4 it says that there were other boats there with them as they were going across the water. I feel like the storm came so that it would give everyone the opportunity to watch Jesus save, and to see His protection. Revelation 12:11 says, "They overcame the evil one by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives even unto death." These storms that we face are not God punishing us. They are not really even the devil trying to take us out. I feel like more times than not it's God trying to show us something. And many times it's God trying to show someone else something. If we are to overcome the evil one, then that means that there has to be opposition. There HAS to be some sort of opponent if we are to overcome them. And the way that we overcome the devil is first by the blood of the Lamb and by the power of the cross. The second is by your testimony. The story that God is weaving through your life. When you overcame depression. When you overcame poverty. When you overcame that death of a close friend or relative. When you overcame the struggle that you have with lust. When you overcame that addiction that you have. Those are all things that are adding to the testimony that you have.
Some of you may be saying, "Yeah. Well that's easy for YOU to say! But you don't understand." You know, maybe I don't understand exactly what you're going through. But I bet I can relate to more of you than you realize. The storm that I am currently facing, I believe is almost over. But it was a terrifying storm nonetheless. My dad was diagnosed with colon cancer last month. He went in for an appointment and they had to give him 2 units of blood so that he could get his hemoglobin levels up. He had a tumor in his colon that was sucking all the iron from his system. A week before Thanksgiving dad went in for surgery. They removed the part of the colon that was infected, and then he spent a couple of days in the hospital recovering. They sent him home and he got sick with pneumonia. He spent the entire week of Thanksgiving in a hospital bed. He is now back home and getting better every day. We are still unsure as to whether he will need chemo or not. I'm praying and believing that they won't have to.
But one thing I well tell you is this. If you are completely sold out and have bought into the life of Jesus, you WILL encounter storms. You WILL encounter troubles. You WILL encounter hard times. BUT, you will be able to face them head on, because you will have the peace of Jesus in your life. Sometimes we face storms so that others can see that it is possible to make it through. Sometimes we face storms so that WE can see that it's possible to make it through. Don't give up hope. Don't give up faith. Don't give up on His promise. He said, "Let us go across to the other side." Will you get in the boat and go?
