When I went on vacation with my wife, we had the opportunity to do some hiking. Hiking always sounds fun until you actually start hiking. If it’s a significant hike then slowly but surely fatigue will kick in and the sun will switch from a friend to a foe in a matter of minutes and the idea of hiking will lose its appeal when the air gets thinner and thinner and drier and drier the higher you go up, not to mention mosquitoes. We tend to forget how sweet the view is going to look at the top and focus on what’s going on around us.
I’m not sure how far up we were on the hike but I remember a man coming down the mountain saying something along the lines of “You’re almost there, just a little bit longer.” Now I didn’t know if he was right or wrong? Or if he was pulling our chain or just being nice? But I believed him and when I did, it was as if I had a sudden burst of energy and I felt an internal boost to keep going. We no longer focused on what was happening to us or around us but on where we were headed.
Then it hit me, How powerful is a word of encouragement in difficult situations and circumstances? I received a word of encouragement from a stranger, but how much more powerful would a word from God be in the difficult storms of our life?
God has put in my heart to remind those who are in a Storm and/or dealing with a difficult situation and circumstance, that He’s in the Boat!
In the Story of Jesus Calming the Storm in Matthew 8:23-27, the Disciples and Jesus were faced with a Storm on their way to the other side of the lake but they both had different reactions to the Storm.
The Disciples were in a panic when the storm hit the boat and woke up Jesus to ask him to save them. This is what we typically do when we’re faced with a storm in our life. There’s nothing wrong with asking Jesus for help in a storm, what’s wrong is not actually believing that he will help you. We know this based on Jesus’ response to the Disciples stating “You of little faith, what are you so afraid?”(Matt. 8:26).
Jesus on the other hand was asleep when the storm hit. He wasn’t woken up by the storm but by the disciples. This may suggest that Jesus wasn’t afraid or bothered by the storm and that He calmed the winds and the waves for his disciples not himself.
Jesus’ posture in the storm was one of Peace and Calmness; having Trust and Faith in God. He expected his disciples to believe in God and Trust in Him that He would protect them and keep them safe the whole way through.
Psalm 46:10 (NIV) sums it up:
10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;”
Having faith in Jesus doesn’t always mean that the winds and waves in your life are going to calm. Having faith in Jesus means that He’s with you no matter what the storm brings. Having faith in Jesus means that He will see you through to the other side.
One of the things the Disciples missed that I don’t want us to miss, is that Jesus was in their Boat and if Jesus is your Lord and Savior then He’s in yours too.
So when I say He’s in your Boat, it’s a reminder to place your hope and trust in Jesus that He will be with you in the Storm and that He will see you through to the other side.
And so I pray that Jesus would calm the winds and waves in your storm and I pray even more that you would have the faith in Jesus to know that He will see you through the storm.