JESUS IN THE STORM WITH US
Scripture: Matthew 14:22-36 and Psalm 29:1-11
INTRODUCTION:
Christian faith is secure only when we recognize and live daily with the assurance that God is always with us, even in the storms of life.
Most of us are acquainted with the story recorded in Matthew’s gospel where Jesus walked upon the water and came to His disciples in the midst of a raging tempest. We have heard the facts of the story since childhood. Nevertheless, there are further truths to be explored.
let us note the background, the setting for this story.
Our Lord was approaching the high point of His ministry. It was at this time that He performed many miracles, including the feeding of a multitude with but a few loaves of bread and two fish. He was becoming popular with the people and a source of concern to religious authorities. Persecution was abroad in the land. King Herod had just put John the Baptist to death.
Matthew notes the significance of this cruel death with a twofold statement. He tells us Herod heard of the fame of Jesus and reacted with, "It Is John the Baptist come to life again." He also tells us that, when Jesus heard the news of John’s death, He departed into a desert place to pray, to meditate, and to be alone with His thoughts.
This was surely a moment of personal pain in our Lord’s own heart. Jesus loved John the Baptist. They were first cousins, boyhood companions who, quite likely, had spent many hours together growing up.
It was at this precise moment and time that Jesus ordered His disciples to get in the boat and go over to the other side. Rather than go with them, Jesus stayed behind to dismiss the crowds and for the more personal reason of private prayer and communion with His heavenly Father.
The disciples set forth, under direct orders from the Master, aboard a ship headed for troubled waters.
Is it not so with us? Do we not daily step forth to meet the unknown, the unexpected? The greatest of joys? The most sudden and unexpected of storms?
WE MUST LEARN TO RECOGNIZE JESUS
The disciples had lived with Jesus. They knew Him in a very personal and intimate manner. Yet from this incident we understand there was a moment when they did not recognize Him.
Does it happen with us? Are there those times, those unexpected circumstances of our lives in which we simply do not recognize the Master’s presence?
After all, is it not easier to be conscious of God when in church? Perhaps easier to be aware of Him when on our knees in prayer, or when engaged in those obvious Christian duties such as witnessing or ministering to the sick?
But what of the night? What of the darkness? What of the lonely moments, the totally personal struggles, the times when our hearts yearn to reach out and touch someone else and there is no one there? What of the trying times? What of the storms? Are we then able to recognize Jesus?
The disciples did not! They were too wrapped up in the struggle of the moment. They saw the tossing waves. They felt the threat of death. They heard the wind, saw the lightning, felt the pelting rain. But they did not recognize the Lord.
So I emphasize: We must learn to recognize God.
Life has a way of teaching us. Life has a way of reminding us. Just when we think all Is running smoothly, all Is well, all is under control; then comes the startling realization that storm clouds are blowing over. Just as we think we have solved the last problem, or taken care of the last pressing need, that’s when the mailman arrives, or that’s when the telephone rings, or that’s when we discover a child Is sick. No matter how often we have been down the road, there are yet surprises. We still have more to learn.
Such is life.
The disciples were about to learn the greatest lesson they would ever receive, the truth of Jesus in the storm. They knew Jesus already as the supplier of their needs. They had witnessed Him pay taxes with money from a fish’s mouth. They knew He could multiply loaves and fishes, that He spoke words of life, that He had power over the works of the devil. They knew Him as a great teacher. Still, never having met Jesus in a storm, they did not recognize Him. All too often we make the same mistake.
We believe Jesus for our salvation and for the forgiveness of our sins. We look to Him as the supplier of all our needs. We trust Him to bring us Into glory one day. But when everything is falling apart, we find it difficult to see Jesus.
We can’t seem to believe that He would allow a storm to teach us how to trust Him. We are never quite sure He is nearby when things really get rough. The ship Is now tossing. It appears to be sinking, winds are blowing. Everything Is going contrary and it seems all hope Is lost. The Bible says:
"And In the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It Is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. But stralghtway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it Is I; be not afraid" (Matthew 14:25-27).
WE MUST LEARN TO COPE WITH OUR FEARS.
Fear!
It is a destructive force that plagues each of us at certain times. Of course, some fear is normal. It helps us survive certain dangers.
For example, the fear of walking out in front of a car, or the fear of falling off a tall building-these are normal fears. They function for a noteworthy purpose.
let us look at a dictionary definition of fear: "an emotion excited by threatening evil or impending pain, accompanied by a desire to avoid or escape; apprehension; dread; uneasiness about a thing; horror; alarm; terror; dismay and fright." Most of us have known fear in these varying shades of meaning.
But fear is also a spiritual force. It can actually destroy us if we yield to it.
Fear is not of God. God is not the author of fear. God does not send fear upon His people. He made all things. He sustains all things. He holds the key to all things. He Is in charge of all things.
God Himself knows no fear. What could there be for Him to fear? The Word of God proves that He has nothing to fear. Therefore, His children really have nothing to fear. Note these words: "God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God" (Psalm 62:11). Jesus tells us, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth" (Matthew 28:18). Thus, why should we-His children-be afraid?
What I am trying to get across is that Jesus has done all these things before us and yet we do not really see Him In the storms of life. Many in the church family have seen God move in their lives In such a way that no one but God could have done it, yet we have trouble following Jesus all the time. We seem to forget that the Scriptures tell us, "The steps of a good man are ordered by the lord: and he delighteth in his way" (Psalm 37:23). The psalmist goes on to say, "Though he fall, he shall, not be utterly cast down: for the lord upholdeth him with his hand" (v.24).
If the steps of a good man are ordered by the lord, and if God upholds the good man with His hand, then He must be here with us all the time! He has never been far away. We have never been out of His sight. When all seems to be going wrong, He yet has control.
We are so often like the disciples, not one of whom recognized Jesus when He came walking on the water. It could be that we believe and expect Jesus to be at the Samaritan well, or in the temple driving out the money changers. We expect Him one day to be at the right hand of the Father, to make us kings and priests. But never do we expect Him to be with us in the storm!
For the disciples, that storm was just an act of nature, an unexpected disaster, a tragic accident of fate, an unwanted and unnecessary trial, a lonely and fearful journey into despair. It was a night to be forgotten.
If we could only remember: "He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still" (Psalm 107:29); and "There shall be a tabernacle for a shadow In the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from the storm and from rain" (Isaiah 4:6).
Paul tells us, "In Him we live, and move, and have our being" (Acts 17:28). Again he says, "God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind" (2 Timothy 1:7).
With God living In us, fully, there Is no room for fear. We must discover in Him and through His Holy Spirit the power to cope with fear In all Its many expressions.
WE MUST LEARN TO TRUST GOD IN THE DARKEST HOUR.
The storm which came upon the disciples came suddenly. They were put upon quickly. And there was no thought on their part that Jesus was nearby, watching over them.
If we are to speculate as to their thoughts, or their fears, In their moment of sudden danger, we may well imagine their reaction as being similar to our own. One of the disciples may have thought, "This Is the work of the devil. He wants to kill us because of all those good things we have been doing." Yet another may have thought, "Where did we go wrong? Which one of us has sin In his life? God must be angry with someone on this ship." Yet another may have reacted, "Why us? We’re doing what Jesus told us to do. We’re not out of His will. Why this sudden storm. Jesus told us to get on board this ship. Why is this happening?"
All of us come eventually to those darkest of hours, to those lowest of moments, and we tend to despair. But let it not be! We must trust Him in the darkest hour.
The Bible says that "in the fourth watch of the night," just before dawn, at the worst possible time, when all hope was fading, Jesus came. He came unexpectedly and He came with miraculous power and demonstration.
How difficult it must have been for Jesus to wait on the edge of that storm, loving them so much, feeling every pain they felt, wanting so much to keep them from getting hurt, yearning after them as a father for his children in trouble. Yet, Jesus knew they could never fully know Him or trust Him, until the full fury of the storm was upon them.
Only when they had reached the limit of their endurance would He reveal Himself. Jesus knew that the ship would never have gone down, but if it had, they would be saved. Now their fear would have drowned them more quickly than the waves beating on the ship.
let us always remember this: Jesus can calm a sea of trouble in our lives at any time, simply by speaking the word. But all this comes through faith. We must have faith in the lord. There is peace in time of trouble. Jesus had told them to go, so why could they not have trusted His words. Why not command the sea in Jesus’ name to be calm? Could not the promises have been put into practice? After all, He tells us, "All things asked in prayer . . . ye shall have."
Yet these things cannot happen in our lives until we have learned to recognize Jesus is in the storm with us. These things cannot happen until we have received faith to ride out the storm, until we have learned to be of good cheer even when the ship appears to be sinking.
It is imperative that we recognize Jesus in the storm, the darkest hour.
WE MUST ALSO RESIST THE NEGATIVES, THE GHOSTS OF LIFE.
Not only was it true that the disciples failed to recognize Jesus, but they thought Him to be a spirit, a ghost, something imaginary and unreal. The thought of Jesus being so near, so much a part of what they were experiencing- this did not even enter their minds.
I fear here is where our problem really lies. We are not able to see Jesus in our troubles; instead, we see ghosts. We become fearful and imagine what is not real at all. But the psalmist reminds us, "The Lord sitteth upon the flood; yea, the Lord sitteth King for ever" (Psalm 29:10).
Normal anxiety or reasonable fear becomes compounded when we get carried away with wrong thinking. The disciples faced a new fear when they imagined ghosts, when they saw what was not, but failed to see what was. It seems that one of them might have remembered the Master’s promise, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you." It seems that one might have said, "Jesus sent us ahead of Him and we are in His will and everything is all right." Or that someone would have shouted out, "Hey, that is Jesus. He’s right here with us."
But no, they said, "It’s a ghost."
There was a simple lesson to learn from this storm. It was not some mystical, deep, earth-shattering lesson. Jesus wanted the disciples to learn trust in Him . . . at all times. He wanted them to maintain their cheer, joy, and peace, even in the darkest hour. That is what He wants of us. He does not want us to see ghosts, or spirits, or imaginary things. He wants us to trust Him.
Is it not true that we have different types of ghosts, different types of imaginary enemies? What about the ghost of wasted time? the ghost of grudges? the ghost of compromise? the ghost of covetousness? of hypocrisy? of lying? There may be many other things that we have promised the lord we would or would not do and we just have not been faithful to our promises. Ghosts of the past come floating before us when the storm blows in.
These thoughts are from the devil. They are negative. We need to bring our thoughts under control through the Holy Spirit. When we have broken promises, then we must repent and ask God’s forgiveness. Jesus wants to be with us, even in the storm. We must confess, repent, and welcome Him to be there, thus acknowledging His presence.
Truth Is, no matter the storm, God is not angry with us. The ghosts are not real. The storm has not come because of failure on our part. This is God at work, seeking to reveal Himself in His saving, keeping, preserving power. The storm has a purpose. It could be to bring us to complete rest and trust in Jesus Christ as a present help in time of trouble.
Jesus Is always there.
CONCLUSION
So what are our lessons?
(1) We must learn to recognize the Master under all circumstances.
(2) We must learn to cope with our fears, to handle them, rather than have them paralyze us.
(3) We must learn to trust in the darkest hour. And
(4) we must resist the negatives, the ghosts of life.
God does not wish His children to be filled with worry and anxiety. Jesus is always with us . . In power and in glory. Our storms of life may be sickness, disease, pain, or loss; but Jesus is in the midst of the storm. His hands are raised to help. His voice is near to command.
let us not despair.
Amen
