The Perfect Storm

One day Jesus said to his disciples, "Let's go over to the other side of the lake." So they got into a boat and set out. As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger. The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Master, Master, we're going to drown!" He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. "Where is your faith?" he asked his disciples.In fear and amazement they asked one another, "Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him." Luke 8:22-25 (NIV)

Have you ever been in a storm out on the open water? I haven't been in the heart of a storm, but I've been out on the water and raced to get back to the shore before the full wrath of the wind and waves turned our boat upside down. Have you seen the movie 'The Perfect Storm'? Can you picture the disciples' boat being dwarfed by the monstrous waves? When I think of this passage in Luke (also recorded in two of the other Gospels) I remind myself that many of Jesus' disciples were fisherman - experienced men of the sea - whose livelihood before they followed Christ meant they were out in their boats every day. They had faced many storms and challenges before this one, and the fact that they were scared tells me this was one fierce gale. So fierce, the Bible tells us, they were in danger of sinking. The boat was being swamped - filling with water from the height and ferocity of the waves and the wind whipping the water into their boat.

Can you picture it? The men trying to scramble across the boat to bail out the water - a man on the helm, trying to keep her steady in the heaving swells, the men - yelling over the roar of the wind, being tossed back and forth, slipping, falling, trying to get a secure grip or handhold while trying to keep their feet under them on the drenched deck. It was chaos. They were in desperate peril, fighting for their lives. It must have been terrifying even for experienced sailors. I imagine them desperately using all their skills and knowledge of the sea and finally exhausting all their own resources, they turn to Jesus - who is curled up in the back of the boat asleep! They probably had to shake his shoulder in order to rouse him from his deep slumber - I mean, it would seem there had to have been plenty of noise from the wind and cries of the men to awaken Him. He had to be tossed back and forth from the broiling seas - yet they had to wake Him!

While His disciples are frantic, Jesus gets up - speaks the word, and immediately the storm's gone. From absolute chaos to calm waters. It's hard to even imagine the shock of that experience. One minute the men were clutching anything they could find to grab onto, frantic for their lives, the next it's over. Boom. Absolute peace on the water.

What's all the commotion about - "Where's your faith?" - Jesus asks them. What did you wake me up for? I can hear them now "B-but Lord - the wind was - the waves they were over-powering us. The water was swamping the boat!" And then it hit them - Jesus had the power to stop what no man could ever dream of stopping - the force of nature. They had forgotten that Jesus was the Creator. He spoke the world into existence; it was nothing for Him to calm the storm.

This was a testing of their faith - Jesus knew there would be a storm, He knew they would come out of it. He wanted the disciples to respond in faith. I wonder if Peter was thinking of this lesson when he wrote to the saints in his first epistle that their faith would be tested - tried by various trials - to prove its genuineness - to prove its worth and to become strong enough to praise, honor, and glorify the Lord.

Hebrews 11:6 tells us that without faith it is impossible to please God. Our faith needs testing so that it will stand up to anything. We are told in Scripture that trials are inevitable - the storms of life will come. The only question is how we will handle them. Like the disciples - who, despite their experience of living day to day with Jesus - forgot in the heat of the moment who He was? Will our faith fail? Or will we remember to look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith (Heb. 12:2)

Have you thought to embrace these trials that will inevitably come - our own 'Perfect Storm'? To 'greatly rejoice', as Peter tells us in 1 Peter, as we are 'grieved' or distressed by these challenges that come our way. Peter learned that day on the sea - as well as the many other miracles of Christ he witnessed - that these difficulties in life - these tests of our faith - are a good thing if we allow God to work through them and in us and to bring Him praise, honor, and glory.

Father, we know that difficulties will come, please help us to have faith that pleases You. Faith that in the midst of our own storms of life will ultimately please You and bring You praise. Amen.

Missy Horsfall