Many times in our lives we have asked this question; WHY ME?. And so often we do not have an answer for it. I mean, yes! there are not many answer out there that can satisfy our questions, it reminds me of a famous song; "there are more questions than answers". When a loved one dies, we loss our job, or an illness strikes us; more often when ther is no solution for them, we will cry in pain and agony with the question, Why Me Lord?
It was 1993, i was standing by the side of my sister's death bed, i was there with some elders of my local church to annoint my sister. Been a young lay minister at that time i had the honour of anointing my sister, and trusting that God would heal her and give her another chance to live, so she can take good care of her five kids. You see, this sister of mine was more of a second mother to me. I lost my mom and dad in a very young age, dad passed away when i was 9, and mom when i was 11. Grace (my sister)has been that mother throughout my younger years and she spend her money on both me and her kids for education, sports etc...So to be there at her death bed and to been given the honour of anointing her, was not only special, but i was determine as a young minister to prove that God is real to my other family members who has drifted away from loving Jesus.
I put the oil on her head and then did a prayer chain with everyone. I had so much confident that God is going to heal her. After the anointing, i left the hospital and then headed home. Half through the highway my mobile phone ring, it was my oldest sister Louise, she said Bobbie, can you turn back, Grace has lost her battle with cancer. I was crying, hurt and disbelief in all these and the first question that pops up in my mind was, WHY GOD?
Grace had a hole in her lungs since she was 7years of age, my dear sister never had the chance in life like me to learn or be educated the way i was. And yet in her life time, she has been a mother to us little ones. But now she is gone, losing dad when i was 9years old was worse, then mom and now is Grace. but as i stand here today infront of yous, i can say that "God is so good to me"
You see church, each and everyone of us goes through life in a hard way, we all encounter storms that will rock our boat, and so often we seems to think that our boat will sink, but let just remind you again; in the midst of it all, God is holding our hands.
The fact of the matter is found in the story of the disciples and Jesus in the sea of Galilee.
We read this many times and we think that the disciples were in the boat with Christ and they didn't ask for His help. That is true, and adding on to that are these facts;
1. Not all storms are sin related
Whenever something happens, people seems to think that the person or family have sin, so therefore God must be punishing them for their sins. But that is not so, you see, there are times that many storms and problems comes from the work of satan. Remember, he does not want you to dod good. He created pain and sorrow sometimes in order for us to doubt God and curse Him. Remember the man that was born and Jesus healed him on the Sabbath, the disciples ask Jesus; "who sinned? the parent or him?"
Jesus' reply is very simple; "Neither! but in order to for the work of God be displayed in his life."
When we look at our text, we find that the disciples didn't do anything wrong. All they did was to follow what Jesus told them to do. Jesus asked them to get in the boat and go with Him to the other side, and so they did. But while they were on thir journey with Jesus, the storm appear and it rocked their boat.
This brings me to my next point;
2. Following Jesus often lead us to stormy situation
A song was written by Jared Grabb; "He never promised that the cross will not get heavy, and the hill will not be hard to climb. he never offer a victory without us fighting, when He said help will always come in time."
My dear friends, when you set your heart to accept Jesus as your friend for life and to follow Him and do His will. The storms of life will arises. The devil is fighting against God, and everytime a person gives themselves and their life in the safety hands of our Lord and Master, the devil will make sure that you and i will fail and ended up joining his side. You see, the devil wants to ruin the character of God through His Son Jesus. And the only way for the devil to hit back at God is to work over time for each and every one of us that was purchase by the blood of Jesus, to fail God. The devil knows he can't beat Jesus, (Rev 12:7-9) so his only tactics is to try and ruin what Jesus loves the most; and that IS YOU!(John 3:16,17)
My friends, satan will used our families, friends, partners, people around us and especially those whom we love dearly.
Think of the world today, how many homes have broken into pieces, kids out of control, marriage that was so warm and beautiful are a thing of the past. Young people with sex and drugs, murders and abduction, you name it. The devil knows his time is short and the end is near both for him and those who follow him.(Rev 12:12)
Following Jesus will gives us a test of our faith in Him too. The disciples didn't do anything, but their faith was tested. The sad thing about this story and many other Bible stories, is that the disciples forgot who was in their boat. And in life we can get so busy with trying to get ourselves out of trouble, but forgetting the source of solution and that is JESUS CHRIST.
His promised was; "I will never leave you nor forsake you, i will be with you till the end of the earth."(Matt 28:20, paraphrase)
That brings me to my 3rd point.
3. How do i get out of the storm?
Whne the storm arises, the disciples did their best to row themselves out of it. Its the same as us today, so often the storm of life comes our way and we expend all sorts of energy to try and get out of it. If its a family crisis, we seek counselling. I have nothing against counselling, i am a counsellor myself, but what i am trying to say is, why not seek the Lord in prayer and then let Him calm our mind and put peace in our hearts and then seek the professional level of counsellors. Because when we do, God will direct our ways, He will make things much more easier for us and it will give us a peace of mind. I believe that the silent killer of our human race is STRESS. And to give God our worries, He will work hard for our benefit and for the betterment of our journey. Church! all we need to do is TRUST.
If you want to secure tomorrow, TRUST in God today.
Instead of trying our best, seek the Lord first. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God." "Cast our anxiety to Jesus for He cares for you."
My friends, let just remind you again, Jesus was waiting for the disciples to wake Him up, He was waiting for them to turn to Him.
Friends, our faith will increased when we learn to turn to Him more quickly rather than seeking our own means and methods of getting out of the storm.
