Caught In A Storm
But
Jesus spoke to them at once. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Take courage. I am here!” Matthew
14:27 (NLT )
“You
have so little faith,” Jesus said. “Why
did you doubt? When they climbed back into the boat, the wind stopped.
Jesus
went off by himself to pray and the disciples headed across the lake. A storm came up and the waves were crashing
over the boat; they feared they would drown.
Then unexpectedly Jesus came walking across the water and the storm
calmed and they were saved. There is
much more to this story and you can read it in the Bible, but today let’s
concentrate on the storm and the fear of drowning in it.
Many I know, including myself, have been hit by a storm
recently. Suddenly you find the wind and
waves coming at you; you try to get up and another wave hits you. You wonder if you are going to go under
because the waves keep coming and you can’t see the shore. Then the fear sets in and it speaks to you.
“You’re never going to get out of this storm; so why
don’t you just give up and drown.”
At this point you are in real trouble because you are
listening to the lies of the devil. You
have let fear enter your spirit. It’s
true!
In our younger years we can pick up certain things from
the people around us. Let me give you an
example. When I was about 3 years old (I
can still remember every detail), I was playing in the dining room and my aunt
and uncle were visiting along with their 10-year old son, Lyle. All of a sudden my mother began screaming and
climbed up on the dining room table. I
was so frightened and tried to get up on a chair. I began crying hysterically as Mother kept
screaming and yelling about a rat.
What really happened was that my cousin, Lyle, had a white rat for a pet
and had let it loose. That incident traumatized me for the rest of my life and
I am still terrified when I see a mouse; dead or alive. Sadly, I have passed that on to some of my
children.
The truth is that almost everyone has something they fear
and at those times, faith runs away. In
this scripture we see that Jesus admonished the disciples for their lack of
faith and said to them, “You have so little faith. Why did you doubt me?”
It doesn’t matter if you are in a boat, or going through
a physical storm; don’t lose your faith to fear. Jesus is walking on the waves to come to
you. He doesn’t hesitate to get into the
boat with you and when he does, the storm calms right down. “Don’t be afraid,” he says, “I will ride out this
storm with you.”
The Bible tells us that the rain falls on the just
[believers] the same as the unjust [unbelievers] because we live in this
world. We don’t realize that we are
aliens visiting planet earth; “For we are aliens and pilgrims before You,
as were all our fathers.”
The interesting thing about all of this is that God has
given us a choice; to give up and drown, or to listen to Jesus who tells us to;
“Take courage; I am here.” Don’t give in
to fear and hopelessness. He is our Hope
in all situations.
“Blessed is
the man who trusts in the LORD, and whose hope is the LORD. For he
shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the
river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will
not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit.” 
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