Rest In The Storm Series

TRUST IN HIS WORD.

Depend on what the Lord has told you to do. Count on His commands.

In verse 35, Jesus told His disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” He made His will clear, and nothing can stop Him from working out His will.

God said, in Isaiah 55, “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:10-11).

God’s will, as expressed in His Word, is unstoppable. He WILL accomplish His plan. He WILL do what He said He would do, and He WILL give us the power to do what He asks us to do, as well. What He commands, He empowers. His precepts are promises of what we can accomplish as we depend on Christ. He told His disciples to go to the other side. So as they go, He will make sure they get there!

He just got finished teaching them that His Word is powerful, that it produces tremendous results (Mark 4:1-34). Now they have an opportunity to see it happen right before their very eyes. All they need to do is trust in that Word, and they will have nothing to fear – not the storms on the Sea of Galilee, not even the legion of demons they’ll meet on the other side.

Helmer Heckel, of Excelsior, Minnesota, recalls emigrating from Germany to America in December, 1958. He traveled on the USS Butner, a transport ship, out of Bremerhafen, through the North Sea and into the North Atlantic. Huge waves pounded the ship, and every day seemed the same—water, water everywhere, to the north, the south, the east, and the west. Heckel says, “All we could hear was the monotonous grinding of the ship's engine.”

Finally, five days later, the scene changed dramatically. There was water to the east and the south, but to the west stood the Statue of Liberty gleaming in the morning sun. “We had come home,” Heckel recalls. (Helmar Heckel, Excelsior, Minnesota; www.PreachingToday.com)

Well, that’s what it’s like to follow Jesus sometimes. Waves of opposition pound against us with no change in sight. In all directions, there seems to be nothing but trouble, and the Lord seems to be asleep. Then the day comes when we realize that we have been moving according to His plan all along.

So don’t be afraid. Instead, depend on God’s Word. Just do what He tells you to do, and trust Him to get you where He wants you to go. Rest in the Lord, and so find rest in the storm. 1st of all, Trust in His Word. Then 2nd…

TRUST IN HIS PRESENCE.

Depend on His being right there with you. Count on His company.

Jesus was right there in the boat with His disciples. They had nothing to worry about, and neither do we. Jesus has promised us, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). Psalm 46 says, “God is…an ever PRESENT help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1).