Billy Graham once said. “The storm was raging. The sea was beating against the rocks in huge, dashing waves. The lightning was flashing, the thunder was roaring, the wind was blowing; but the little bird was sound asleep in the crevice of the rock, its head tucked serenely under its wing. That is peace: to be able to sleep in the storm!”
Where do the storms that we face come from? What causes the rough seas and howling winds to blow through our lives? Why are we so fearful, so afraid when they come?
Read the passage: Did you notice verse 35. Jesus said to the disciples, “Let’s go to the other side.” They get out, heading for the other side and a storm suddenly comes up. Now these men are professionals and they have had to deal with rough weather before but there was something different about this storm. This was possibly the worst storm any of them had ever seen and it scared them tremendously. Where is Jesus? The Bible says that He was in the stern or the rear of the ship…ASLEEP. [Follow with what happens through verse 39…]
Have you ever prayed a prayer like that? “Lord do you even care?...”
What makes you afraid, when you’re in a storm?
Notice what Jesus said to them in verse 40 “why are you so afraid?”
How is it that seeing all that you have seen and hearing all that you have heard, you still live in fear!?
Is it that you still don’t believe in me or maybe you haven’t learned to trust me?
Do you know that Jesus has never known fear? The way Mark uses the word fear in verse 40 is terrified…Again, let me ask you. What makes you afraid, when you’re in a storm? Or maybe I should ask it the way Jesus did. “WHY are you so afraid?”
Where do storms come from?
1. Storms come from my own rebellion or disobedience:
This is deliberately living outside of the will and plan God has for His people
I think about Jonah, who found himself in a storm that was caused by his own rebellion. He was going to prove to God that he was not going to go to Nineveh. Verses 3-5 tell us that Jonah went down to Joppa and went down into the ship and when the storm came he went down into the bottom of the ship. When the sailors realized it was Jonah who was causing the storm they threw him down into the ocean.
See when we rebel against God the only way we can go is down, down, down.
2. Sometimes storms are caused by others, in your life:
Just like Jonah brought the storm onto the passengers and crew of that ship, people around you can be the cause of the storm you are facing right now.
The people on the ship were innocent but they were caught up in Jonah’s storm and you may not have done a thing wrong but someone around you is rebelling and now you are caught in it.
3. Storms come simply because we live in a fallen world:
Storms don’t have to mean that God is angry with me. Sometimes we rack our brain trying to figure out what we did that made God so mad. We even go back to something we did as a child like cheating on that math test in the 3rd grade and we believe that God is finally punishing us for that.
Sometime we don’t have to do a thing and a storm will pop up, just because we live in a fallen world.
Mat 5:45 “…He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”
4. Some storms are caused by the devil:
The storm, here, seems to be a supernatural storm. Notice that Jesus “rebuked” this storm.
The way in which He uses the rebuke here is the same way that He uses it every time He rebuked the demons.
If you don’t believe that Satan will bring a sudden storm into your life, just try to spend more time with God. Try to be more obedient to God. Try to witness more.
1Pe 5:8 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”
Did you know that having Jesus in the boat with you never exempts you from a storm? You may not think that is fair and you may even complain about the number of storms you have already gone through.
Wouldn't it be great if all we had to face was 1 storm and when we made it through and received our testimony we never had to worry about another one?
Do you know anyone who has never gone through a storm? Their lives just look like smooth sailing and you say “God, this just isn’t fair! How come I have had so many storms and he hasn’t had one!?”
Well let me share this with you. Each and every one of us is either coming out of a storm, in a storm or getting ready to go into one. It doesn’t mean that God loves you any less than He does anyone else.
However, God will use your storms to grow you up, to bring glory to His Name or to reach people that only you will be able to reach, because of your storm.
Sometimes you go through many storms because you are trying to live the life that God planned for you.
DON’T misinterpret this to say that EVERY storm is like this. If you are living sinfully outside the will of God, being deliberately disobedient to Him, you cannot blame the devil or anyone else for the storms you face.
*There is a MAJOR difference in wanting to live for God but refusing to do so and STRIVING to live for Him, no matter how the wind blows.
5. Sometime storms come quickly and un-expectantly:
24 hours can change your world…1 phone call…1 doctor’s report can, suddenly, bring you to your knees. BUT
It’s on our knees where we find the strength to face the storms.
6. Some storms are severe:
The boat was taking on so much water that it was in danger of sinking.
Maybe you feel the same way today. You might be saying “God I think I’m about to go down.”
Many people quote the phrase “God will never put more on you than you can handle.”
I’m not sure if that is as true as we want it to be.
This is a concept that is taken from Scripture but it’s out of context. It comes from 1Cor 10:13 “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it” [the “it” is temptation to SIN]
If every storm I go through is just enough for me to handle, in my own strength, do I really need God to survive? The storm the disciples were in was way bigger than anything they could handle. They just knew they were about to die and there wasn’t a thing they could do.
Have you ever looked back at time when you went through a terrible storm and told someone how much it changed your life? That is the power of God working in your storm.
Do you find yourself asking God Why the storm is happening? Maybe He would tell you this.
“If it weren’t for the storm you are in, right now, you wouldn’t be here praying.”
Your storm may drive you to your knees but it’s on your knees that you will the strength to weather the storms. It’s there where realize who He really is.
See God wants us to focus on Him. When God told Noah to build the ark He gave Noah some specific instructions. There weren’t a lot of windows around the sides. There was one window that faced up. Some translations use the word roof...
God doesn't want you to be looking all around. He wants you to focus on Him.
Is. 26: 3 “You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed [focused] on You, Because he trusts in You.”
7. You need Jesus in the boat, before the storms come:
The disciples didn't have to send someone running to get Jesus because He was already in the boat. He was sleeping through the lightning and the thunder and the torrential downpour.
Can I tell you something? It wasn't the storm that woke Jesus. It’s not the wind and rain and thunder in your storm that will wake Jesus.
It wasn't the storm that frustrated Jesus. He was in the back of the boat sleeping through the storm.
What woke Jesus and the thing that frustrated Jesus was the fear in His men and the fact these men had forgotten whose they were and who they were with.
What wakes Jesus is not your storm but your fear. What frustrates Jesus is the fear in my life, even though He is in the boat.
Look at verse 35. The outcome had already been predicted. Jesus said “Let’s go to the other side.” He didn’t say “y’all go ahead and I’ll catch up with you later.” He didn't say “Let’s try to get there”
He said “Let US go to the other side” That means you and Jesus will team up and make the trip TOGETHER.
Safety in life is not the lack of storms. Safety in life is having Jesus with us in the storm.
And Finally
8. Sometimes the most violent storms bring the most blessing
Sometimes the violent storms come to help us realize who Jesus is.
Look at verse 41. “Who is this man that can speak and winds cease?” “Who is this man that can speak and the waves lay down flat as glass.”
That’s a question you and I need to ask, today. “Who is this Man?”
Who is this man who would carry the sins of every man, woman, boy and girl to the cross and die in our place?
Who is this man that would hang on cross, tough completely innocent. Charged with the crime that You/I committed and yet He is able to look His Father in the eye and say “Father forgive him, forgive her?”
Who is this man called Jesus? He is the one who can calm the storms that rage in your life. All you have to do is surrender your storm. Surrender your life to Him.
J. Holmes said “Faith enables us to move through the storms carrying our calm with us.”
Is. 26: 3 “You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed [focused] on You, Because he trusts in You.”
Are you focused on Him, today? Is He in the boat with you? If He is, He said “LET’S go to the other side.”
Will you trust Him today? Will you surrender your storm…your life?
