A Perfect Storm

And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.

MATTHEW 14: 32

Again, this passage can just slip on by, but we need to pay very close attention to it. Logic says that it would’ve been easier to rescue Peter by first stopping the storm, but Jesus didn’t. The important action was NOT stopping the storm, the important action was rescuing Peter. The important action was to let the apostles know He was with them. You can see what kind of effect this had by looking back at another storm, and the apostle’s reaction to His calming of it. In Matthew 8: 27, after Jesus says “Peace, be still” and the winds and the waves obey His will, the apostles say: “What manner of man is this?” But here, when the storm has been calmed, the apostles worship Jesus and say “Truly, You are the Son of God.” What a difference! This was the perfect storm, because it served to perfect them. Notice also it WAS another storm. In the first one Jesus was in boat. In this one He wasn’t physically there, but he was there spiritually. And in neither case did He stop the storm until they’d learned the lesson.

When we’re in the middle of a storm, God won’t always stop it just because we beg Him to. I’ve been blessed with only having two cavities in my entire life. The first one I didn’t even need Novocain, but with the second one I ended up getting two shots. I wanted to stop the dentist, but knew it was for the best so that my teeth would be perfected. The dentist wouldn’t have stopped anyway because he also knew it was for best. A little pain now can sometimes make big hurts go away, or maybe even stop them from coming. I once had a friend who’s fiance died. She called me the night it happened, crying and begging “Make it stop hurting.” It was a terrible feeling for me. I tried to console her as best I could. There may be someone out there right now asking the same thing: Make it stop hurting. I wish I could. I wish I could explain the reason for the storm in your life.

But all I can tell you is that there’s a purpose. You might not know what it is for years. You may know tomorrow. I don’t know, but I do know that Jesus loves you so much that He’ll be there, walking on the water to get to you as quickly as possible, walking through the storm Himself to comfort you, strengthen you. Back in Deuteronomy 31 Moses was giving his final address to the children of Israel. They were going over Jordan into the Promised Land, Moses wasn’t going to get to go. I guess you could call that a storm. But Moses understood who was making the decisions and why. And in this passage he encourages the Israelites as they prepare to face new foes in that strange new land. "Be strong and of good courage,” Moses tells them in the sixth verse, “do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, He [is] the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you."