Jesus made the storm stop…after they woke Him up. (Luke 8:22-25)
It is kind of a weird story if you think about it. Isn’t it? More on that in a second…
God has put me in several storms lately…both real, meteorological storms and the spiritual storms of this life have burdened me lately. It has been a very difficult month for me… 3 loved ones have passed away (only 1 of which knew Jesus), the return of life-threatening cancer to my sister-in-law (read her story at
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/cindyokeefe…my brother is a phenomenal writer), several random scary situations and tragedies in my and my friends’ lives that have affected me so very deeply, family turmoil, a broken heart...and then there were the tornados this weekend that narrowly missed my parents and brother’s houses that had me fraeked, flooding at Erica’s parents home, and one long scary drive through rural Indiana late one night last week during the crazies thunderstorms I’ve ever seen. Gee, God must really want me to have storms on my mind. Now I know why. Through all of this, I am learning that instead of waiting for the storms to pass, I need to learn to dance in the rain.
Side note…I’ve decided to write for 2 hours every morning…either posting to this blog or working on my novel. I am thankful for this time I am setting aside because it is not only a time of self-reflection and self-expression, but it is turning out to be a great opportunity for me to spend some quiet time with God. I really didn’t realize how many storms had burdened me nor how much they had been affecting me…stealing my joy away so to speak… until I was able to get away, be still and really listen to God in these morning hours. So I opened my Bible Monday morning and began reading in Luke. In Luke 8 is one of the miracles that appear in all 4 gospels. It is the story of when Jesus calmed the storm on the Sea of Galilee.
One day Jesus said to his disciples, "Let's go over to the other side of the lake." So they got into a boat and set out. As they sailed, He fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger. (Luke 8:22-23)
Now I don’t know much about storms on the Sea of Galilee, but apparently this was a big storm and the disciples were afraid…you have to remember that the disciples were fisherman who had worked on the Sea of Galilee their whole lives…and they were afraid!?! Now that’s saying something. In Matthew’s translation, “furious storm” is the word sizemose which is the word we get sizemick from (or how we measure an earthquake). What Matthew is saying is that this storm literally felt like an earthquake. This is a storm that literally turned everything upside down.
But notice before they left, and before the storm came, Jesus told the disciples something. He said “
let’s go to the other side of the lake.” It seems like a minor point, but when Jesus tells you something is going to happen…it’s going to happen. One of the things that should have given the disciples comfort when the storm came up was that Jesus said, “We are going to the other side of the lake.” Duh! It bears repeating…If He says we are going to the other side of the lake, you are...as in, you WILL make it to the other side of the lake. Also notice the storm did not wake Jesus up… I don’t get that. I’m not a light sleeper but I can’t possiblly imagine sleeping in the bottom of the boat when there is a storm that size going on unless I have absolutely nothing to worry about because I am the son of God and I made the sea (I’m being sarcastic here…seriously…let’s put this in to perspective). Maybe then it might feel kind of good…you know…rocking back and forth…Whatever! I would totally act like the disciple on this one! The story continues…
The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Master, Master, we're going to drown!"
He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. (Luke 8:24)Scripture says he rebuked the storm. I like that word. It is the same word that is used when Jesus casts out demons. Put this mental picture in your head…It’s like Jesus cast out the demon of the storm…and it makes me wonder if Satan hadn’t sent the storm in the first place. I’m comforted in that because it is really hard for me to explain to people sometimes why bad things happen to good people; but if you understand that we live in a fallen world, it is a bad place, and Satan is the one who messes it up…maybe that will help you trust in God a little more. Literally, he rebuked the storm. "Be still!" Great image!
Don’t miss the full extent of this miracle. When He calmed the storm it says that everything subsided and ALL was calm. Have you ever been at an ocean or lake when a storm has just passed and you are ready to go back out on the wave runners or whatever? Everything doesn’t just die down immediately. With Jesus, this was instantaneous! Jesus woke up, looked out, went poof, and it was done. After Jesus calmed the storm, he turned back to the disciple ...
"Where is your faith?" he asked his disciples. (Luke 8:25)
There is a sense in His reply that implies He was a little impatient with the disciples. But notice what it doesn’t say here…and I am comforted in this. Jesus didn’t say (imagine a fatherly figure pointing his finger at you as he says…), "You don’t have enough faith so I’m not going to calm the storm. I’m going to wait until you all get your faith straighten out!" He didn’t. He just said, "Ok, if you need me…boom…but I sure wish you had more faith."
So what am I learning from this story?
First, every person experiences storms…even those who travel with Jesus. The storm came impartially. Having Jesus in the boat did not keep the disciples from being battered by the storm. In fact, Jesus was the one who got this whole thing going. He asked them to get in to the boat and go over to the other side. It was calm when they got in the boat. The storm came up in the middle of the journey and as the son of God, you know He knew that was going to happen. This is important because sometime people leave you with the impression that when you walk with Jesus, everything is going to be smooth and easy. But look at Paul…the guy who wrote most of the New Testament. 2 Corinthians 11 lists all of the things that happened to him… “5 times I received 40 lashes, 3 times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, 3 times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, danger from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren, I have been in labor and hardships, thorough many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure…”(24-27). Now really…I don’t know what the “Jesus-wants-you-healthy-and-wealthy” preachers do with that scripture. Just because Jesus is in your boat does not exempt you from the storm.
If you know the story…I have been completely traumatized and blown away by the occurrence that happened to the Steven Curtis Chapman family 2 weeks ago today. He and his family were just at my church the weekend before. His sons played the concert with him. He talked about his daughters and Shoahannah’s Hope which completely impacted my life in a way that I’m not sure I’ve never been so certain of God telling me to do something as I was after that night (FYI…I am going to adopt as many kids from poverty stricken countries as I am able to when I have the means). He talked about how he wrote the Cinderella song for his daughter Maria. This family touched me so deeply that words cannot possibly do it justice…then five days later…Wednesday night in the family driveway, there was an awful tragedy. Their son Will Franklin ran over Maria with the family SUV and she died several hours later in the hospital. You can’t even fathom it can you? To lose a child on one end, but to lose her this way and to have his son who is going to live with this…it’s unimaginable. And I think to myself, why him? I mean, this is Steven Curtis Chapman who has touched more lives than maybe any single Christian person alive today. He’s done so much for the gospel and he’s standing up and helping more people bring hope into the lives of hundreds of innocent, hopeless children…and they adopted this child from China…how could this happen to them? Shouldn’t he be exempt? I mean, not that I would wish this on my worst enemy, but why couldn’t it have happened to someone else??? But when Jesus was preaching the Sermon on the Mount, he said that one man built his house on the rock and one man built his house on the sand and the storm hit BOTH houses! It wasn’t about whether they got storms or not. It was about what they were built on. I know that SCC’s family’s faith is built on the solid rock and they will be able to withstand the storm, and I know that God will make good come from this situation. And I know He is doing the same thing in my life admist my storms. We just need to understand that everybody gets hit with storms…which brings me to the second point…
God comforts us in the storms. We need somebody there. The disciples were battling for their lives on the boat and the asked, Jesus, “don’t you care?”. I understand this reaction because in the midst of my storms this past month I’ve asked, “God are you there??? Why don’t you care?” But Jesus did care. He wasn’t asleep in the bottom of the boat for a lack of concern. He was asleep in the bottom of the boat for a lack of request. Think about it…The mistake the disciples made was in not waking Jesus up sooner! Isn’t that the mistake that we all make? I can just image the disciples hurrying to bail the water out of the boat while Jesus, the son of God, is asleep in the bottom of the boat. Can you relate this to your spiritual life? I can. I am such an “I can get by on my own” type of person and as ashamed to admit it as I am, it is only when I get really get desperate that I call on Jesus. We wait until we are in the worst possible place before we call on God. We should be praying earlier. Don’t get me wrong…there are some storms that require other’s counsel…I’m not saying don’t seek advice from the appropriate people…doctors, financial advisors, counselors…just don’t forget to wake Jesus up in the bottom of the boat at the same time. Don’t forget to go to Him first because He WANTS to be there with you. The key to an abundant life in Christ is to go to Him with EVERYTHING, not just when we are desperate.
David puts this into perspective in Psalm 23. He says, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me.” Notice what it doesn’t say. It doesn’t say, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil because you will take me out of it." It says you are with me. The disciples were freaking. God was not freaking out. Do you realize this…God never Freaks out! Can I get a hallelujah? No place in the Bible do you see God freaking out! He is always in control…all we need to do is tap into Him and thank goodness because I freak out ALL OF THE TIME! One of my students gets this. I had them write a journal a few weeks ago asking if you could be stuck in an elevator with anyone dead or alive, who would it be. Most of the kids wrote down the names of famous singers or friends, but one kid’s response struck me. He said, “I would want to be stuck in an elevator with someone who knows how to fix elevators.” Duh! He gets it! If I am stuck in a storm, I want to be stuck with someone who knows how to fix storms. And guess what, I already am. Paul knew it didn’t matter how powerful the storm was. He says it this way. “Neither life nor death, nor angels or daemons, nor the present or the future, nor any powers or height or depth or anything in creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:38-39) I just need to wake Him up in from the bottom of the boat!
The final thing I get from this miracle is that maturity comes from enduring the storm. Life’s storms strengthen us. After the storm on the Sea of Galilee the disciples turned to each other and,
In fear and amazement they asked one another, "Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him." (Luke 8:25)Their faith was deeply moved and they grew. Now, that doesn’t always automatically happen, but if you have your faith in Jesus Christ, that can happen. And it doesn’t always happen right away. We can’t really properly label our experience until they are over, but I am learning to recognize and see the beauty of what God is doing while in the midst of the storm. I’ve had several events happen in my life already that have deepened my faith and changed my outlook on life...and obviously I have a few going on right now. And while these events have scared me to death, and I wouldn’t want them to happen to anyone else, I’ve grown closer to my family and friends, I have more compassion for people, a deeper understand and empathy, I see joy and beauty in so many things unnoticed before, it has brought me patience, and most importantly, I know the Lord in a deeper and richer fellowship than I’ve ever thought possible.
Nobody is going to volunteer for these sorts of things to happen to them. It is stupid to take off in a boat when you know that a hurricane is coming; but when the unavoidable storms come and then subside, we should look back and learn what we can about what happened in the middle of the storm. Maybe that is why James says this verse that I don’t like very much… “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1: 2-4).
Storms come in every life. Maybe is it just a brief rain shower…maybe it is a prolonged brutal blast, but don’t panic. Just trust God. Wake Him up! He is in the bottom of the boat. He doesn’t promise exemption, but he does promise companionship. Our God will be with you…He won’t drop you and he never freaks out…My summer of fun is not turning out to be what I had planned, but instead of waiting for the storm to pass, I'm going to start dancing in the rain!
25 In fear and amazement they asked one another, "Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him."
On a final note...That is the ultimate question we all have to answer. Who is this? Is He really who He says he is, because if He is, He conquered the most severe storm of all one Friday when the sky turned dark midday…and He conquered the grave, and someday He will conquer all of this too which means we (those of us who believe in Him) will someday go with Him to a place where there are no storms…no death, no crying, no pain, no hurt. The old order of things will pass away. He is not only able to help you conquer the storm, but He is able to help you walk on water and dance in the rain if you get thrown out of the boat. You just need to trust Him.
