THE SIZE OF THE STORM
THEME: THE SIZE OF THE STORM IS CONNECTED TO THE SIZE OF YOUR FAITH.
Life has been a little stressful recently. Nothing major, it is just a bunch of stuff that adds stress to my life. Most of you know that Charity has been having some health problems related to having baby Noah. This is not earth shaking medical problems, but we do not like them and wish it would all go away. Also, my parents have been having some marriage problems, so I have been worried about that. It is stressful to see people that you love hurting in life.
If you are like me, you are always dealing with stress and some difficult circumstances. Maybe you are dealing with health issues, parenting issues, marital issues, and money issues. There are always issues that cause stress and tension on our lives. Some of you are going through some major problems. Not the little annoyance stuff, but the big life change stuff. Someone has once said that you are going into conflict or coming out of conflict. The amount of stuff that seems to affect us is endless. Maybe it is a child going away to school, or a mother that is giving you problems in the class room. Whatever it is, I know it is affecting you. And if you are like me, you just want it to go away. There are always the storms of life that are affecting us. The stuff that makes you turns in your bed. The stuff that makes you afraid of the future and the stuff that makes you question where God is in all of this difficult stuff you have to deal with. Personally, I am tired of storms, I just like calm days. Maybe you can relate to me. Probably, you understand what I am talking about. You know, dealing with the stress in life.
Maybe you can relate to Joe. His story starts with four guys deciding to go mountain climbing one weekend. In the middle of the climb, Joe slipped over a cliff, dropped about sixty feet and landed with a thud on the ledge below. The other three, hoping to rescue him, yelled, “Joe, are you OK?” “I’m alive…but I thin I broke both my arms!” “We’ll toss a rope down to you and pull you up. Just lie still!” said the three. “fine,” answered Joe. A couple of minutes after dropping once end of the rope, they started tugging and grunting together, working feverishly to pull their wounded companion to safety. When they had him about three-fourths of the way up, they suddenly remembered he said he had broken both his arms. “Joe, if you broke both your arms, how in the world are you hanging on?” Joe responded, “With my teeeeeeth…” Sometimes in life we are hanging on to life with our teeth.
Fortunately, we are not the first group of people to struggle with this problem. We have an example in the Bible with the disciple dealing with the literal storms of life. We read of this in Mark 8:23-27 “And when He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him. And behold, there arose a great storm in the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves; but He Himself was asleep. And they came to Him, and awoke Him, saying, "Save us, Lord; we are perishing!" And He said to them, "Why are you timid, you men of little faith?" Then He arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and it became perfectly calm. And the men marveled, saying, "What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?" This indicates the attitude that we must have towards trials. There is a great contrast in these verses that teach us a valuable lesson for life.
In Marks account of this story, Jesus has told the disciples that they are going to the other side. So the disciples get into the boat, but while they are traveling, a huge storm arises. Most of these men are fishermen, so they are not inexperienced when it comes to the ocean. They have seen storms before and probably have been in a few storms in the past. The disciples become afraid and worried for their safety. The disciples are worried for their life. But look at Jesus in verse 24, the text says that he is sleeping. This is not just a small detail in the story. The ability to sleep during trouble was a sign of faith in God. Psalm 4:8 “In peace I will both lie down and sleep, For Thou alone, O LORD, dost make me to dwell in safety.”
Maybe you have problems sleeping during the storms of life too. I know, I do. I remember one Wednesday night, it was after the services were over. I got talking with one of the elders at a congregation I was servicing with. We got discussing taking a day off, because I had to work on Saturday, and in the contract I was allowed to do this. But instead of the elder saying it was o.k. He got upset with me. He started to call me a time puncher. He told me that I really did not love the work of the congregation because I wanted to take a day off. I was shocked and upset. This elders already was mad at me, because the week before he accused me of being a false teacher, and maybe he was still mad at me or simply was out to get me. I went home that night, and turned and tossed in my bed for hours. I do not believe that I got an ounce of sleep. I was so worried that he was going to get me fired. I was so worried that everything I worked towards would be ruined because he would destroy my name in the church. I certainly did not want to lose my job. I wanted to fix the problem, but I did not know how. This is only one of the many sleepless nights that I have had in my life. You can probably relate to me. You have turned in your beds. You have cried at night. You have thought and thought and the problems have not gone away. You have worried all night, and really you could do nothing about the problem.
Unlike the disciples who are overly worried about the storm, Jesus seems to be at peace. His faith is strong, so the storm seems small. The disciple’s faith is weak, so the storm seems larger. The size of the storm is influenced by the size of your faith. This is why the disciple clearly overreacts. They wake Jesus up to save them from the storm. The disciples are maybe a little shocked. Here is Christ and he is doing nothing to help. It seems like he has just allowed them to perish and hurt. I am sure we have all wondered at one time or another. Lord why are you allowing this stuff to happen to me. Do you not care? I am struggle and you seem to be resting. Well we are feeling what the disciples are feeling in this situation. Lord, we are about to die, do you care?
Jesus does, but he is disturbed by the disciple’s lack of faith. He rebukes them for doubting. He tells them that they have little faith. If you would have had great faith, the storm would not have caused you to doubt and be afraid. You can make it through this. It will be o.k. in the end. But we are not always sure. We need some help. Though the disciples doubt, Jesus is still helping them out. He causes the storm to be still once again. The winds and the waves go away. Jesus provides the calm in the storms of life. And the disciples marvel at his power. He has the ability to bring peace again to a troubled life. He has the power to restore order to chaos. When the winds of stress and struggle come blowing through your life. Jesus is there to calm the storm. In fact we can handle the storms of life with faith. When faith is strong, storms are smaller. Because we know we serve a loving God. Certain storms cannot be mastered by man, but God can handle the storms in the end.
Here is the lesson from this miracle account. The size of the storm is influenced by the size of your faith. Let me say that again. The size of the storm is connected to the size of your faith. When we have weak faith, the storms of life seem bigger. But when we have great faith, the storms of life seem smaller. Think about it? Jesus spent a lot of time talking about not worrying. God is ultimately in control of life. He mentioned a lot of walking by faith. When we are walking by faith, we are not so stressed about some of the problems that we face a long this journey. We have a greater confidence that we can deal with the problems of life or God will deal with the problems. We are more composed and trustworthy of God.
When you think about this story, remember that we can sleep through the hard times. We can have rest because we have God in heaven. We have Christ with us in the boat. He can still the storms. He has the power to rebuke the winds of change and chaos. So the next time there is stress in a relationship, stress because of problems at work, or stress because of the kids or family. Remember that through a stronger faith, these problems will not seem as large. It is how you look at the difficulties in life. Sometimes you can make mountains out of molehills. You become overly worried about a situation. Because if we are more patience with the Lord, things will work out because of the promises that God gives us. He provides us with two helpful verses in these situations. Romans 8:28 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” In the end, good will come from life. It might take one month, or five years, or fifty years, and sometimes there is not a positive ending until death, but with Christians, there is always a “happily ever after in this life.” God will cause everything to work for good if we will let him. There is another promise that God gives us. It is found in 1 Corinthians. 10:13 “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it.” God will not allow us to handle more than we are able to. He is not in the faith destroying business. He is in the faith growing business. But we have to see this life through the eyes of faith and not through eyes of doubt. Eyes of doubt only make life more difficult.
This week, I want everyone for seven days only. This is the assignment. I want everyone before they go to bed to pray about the problems or stress that they have in life. And pray with faith that the Lord will calm the storm.
Marshall Shelly knows how to weather the storms. He writes even as a child, I loved to read, and I quickly learned that I would most likely be confused during the opening chapters of a novel. New characters were introduced. Disparate, seemingly random events took place. Many times the book would not make sense at first. But I learned to keep reading, Why? Because you know that the author, if he or she is good, will wave them all together by the end of the book and each element will have meaning. Even when I can’t explain why a chromosomal abnormality develops in my son, which prevents him from living on earth more than two minutes, and even when I can’t fathom why our daughter has to endure two years of severe and profound retardation and continued seizures. I choose to trust that before the book closes, the Author will make things clear.
