Discovering Jesus

The Storms of Life

And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling.

—Mark 4:37

Immediately following these parables, we see the application of Jesus’s teaching on faith. Jesus and his disciples started on their way across the sea to the other side. What happened next? The story describes a great windstorm or furious squall. To understand the seriousness of the storm, consider the reaction of the experienced fishermen. They thought they were going to die. The waves were crashing over the side of the boat, and it started to sink “so that the boat was already filling.” Through it all, they worked to save themselves, bailing the boat but to no avail, all of this while Jesus slept.

At their point of despair, they woke Jesus to ask for his help in bailing the boat. They seemed to scold him with the statement, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” I don’t think they expected a miracle or thought one possible to save them. They simply wanted another set of hands to bail the water out of the boat. I know I would react the same way, desperate to save myself. Despite seeing him perform miracles, this problem, this storm was too big.

This brings us to the first lesson of the story. Is your Christ too small? Do we think the storm we are going through is too big for our God? Do we think we can muster our way through to the other side by our own strength and in our own power? Do we think that God doesn’t care about our problems?

What happened next was simply amazing. Jesus awoke from his rest, stood up, and rebuked the wind and waves. He commanded the storm to stop and the waves to calm. And they did! What was the disciples’ reaction? Probably the same as what ours would be. They were terrified. “Who is he? Nature even obeys him.”

This brings us to the second lesson of the story. Nothing is too big for Christ. Christ does care. Scripture reminds us that a sparrow doesn’t even fall to the ground without his knowing. Scripture reminds us that he knows the very number of hairs on our heads. Christ cares about the storm and our struggle in it.

After calming the storm and seas, Jesus turned to the disciples almost to say, “Did you not pay attention to anything I taught you?” He asked them about their faith, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?”

This gives us insight into the third lesson of the story. Christ is the source of our courage and is accessed through faith. If they had faith in Christ Jesus, they would not have feared the temporal things of life, for those things last only a season. Rather, they would have recognized that the one who was with them reigns sovereignly over all things, that not even one molecule runs rogue out of his control.

This leads us to the final lesson of the story. Christ Jesus reigns sovereign over the storms of life and can be trusted to carry you through to the other side of the lake.

You might say to me, “Daniel, you don’t know where I am at, what I am going through, or the pain and suffering of my heart. You just don’t understand.” Yes, I do. There was a season in life when I lost my job, my father was diagnosed with cancer and would die, and we were told that my son would not survive the pregnancy and then more, one thing after another as if those were not enough. One storm after another. One pain after another. One suffering after another. Through it all, there was comfort in knowing that my God was in control of it all and that he was guiding me through it the whole time. I remember saying in the midst of it all, “God, I don’t know what you are doing, but I trust you will take care of my family.”

You can have that same hope, assurance, and courage in the face of the biggest storms that life throws at you. Simply believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and he will save you. He may not remove the storm, but he will carry you through it.