Can We Have Peace in the Midst of a Storm? (Part 3 of 3)

Now we get to the heart of the matter. I didn't go searching for a way to have peace in a storm. I just knew I needed peace and didn't have it. God took the initiative and taught me about peace with a surprising passage.

The story is told in the books of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Each recounting of the events contains slightly different details and when the different accounts are combined, a richer picture comes into focus. For this reason, I am presenting you with the combined stories of Matthew 8:23-27, Mark 4:35-41, and Luke 8:22-25:

One day, when evening had come, [Jesus] told [his disciples], "Let's cross over to the other side of the lake." As He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him. So they left the crowd and took Him along since He was in the boat. And the other boats were with Him. And as they were sailing He fell asleep. Suddenly, a violent storm arose and came down on the sea, and the waves were breaking over the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped and [they] were in danger. But He was in the stern, sleeping on the cushion. So the disciples came and woke Him up, saying, "Lord, save us! We're going to die!" "Master! Master! We're going to die!" and "Teacher! Don't you care we're going to die?" But He said to them, "Why are you fearful, you of little faith?" Then He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and said to the sea, "Silence! Be still!" and the wind ceased and there was a great calm. Then He said to them, "Why are you fearful? Do you still have no faith?" And they were terrified and amazed, saying to one another, "Who can this be? He commands even the winds and the waves and they obey Him!"

As they set sail, Jesus fell asleep in the storm, (the pilot's place, no less) and didn't wake up until His disciples came to wake Him. Now, that doesn't really seem so odd, and you might be tempted to gloss over the fact that He was sleeping through the storm, but let's take a good look at it. The Gospels tell us that the waves were breaking over the boat, the boat was being swamped, and they were in danger. Undoubtedly, the boat was being tossed about. I can just picture His body being jerked back and forth with the tossing of the boat. Since the waves were breaking over the boat, anyone who has spent some time on the water will recognize that this means there was spray coming from the waves. The Gospels also say that the boat was being swamped. The original Greek word here means "covered." Most likely, He was getting soaked; soaked and jerked around. Yet He slept. What kind of sleep was this?

For the sake of argument, I'll call this "intentional" sleeping. For this moment, Jesus needed to be unavailable. His body was a human body and got tired in the same way ours does. Surely, He physically needed the rest. But in this instance, His rest served an additional purpose. Isaiah 45:15 tells us, "Yes, You are a God who hides Himself, God of Israel, Savior." And in a sense, this is what Jesus did. But in case you are concerned that God really is sleeping and unaware during your trial, Psalm 121:3-4 assures us that "Your Protector will not slumber. Indeed, the Protector of Israel does not slumber or sleep." That leads us to Point Number 1: If Jesus is in the boat, you have nothing to fear.

But the disciples did fear. These men were used to fishing on this sea, yet they were very afraid. What was scaring them? I think that question is best answered by looking at Jesus' response. "Then He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and said to the sea, 'Silence! Be still!' and the wind ceased and there was a great calm." Jesus' emphasis here is on quiet. In Greek and Hebrew, the word for "wind" is strongly associated with "spirit" or "mind" (they are often the same word). The word for "still" means "to muzzle" and the word for "ceased" means "to grow weary or tired, to cease from violence, or to cease raging." Without being tedious, I'd like to suggest what He might say for each of us today based upon that passage: "then He got up and rebuked the spirits and minds, and said to the voices, "Stop speaking! Be muzzled!" and the minds and spirits grew weary and ceased raging from violence." This possibility leads us to Point Number 2: Since there is no real danger, it's the noise of the storm that is scaring you.

There are three points to this message and I've already shared the first two. The third point is the last ditch effort. If you can't find peace with the realization that 1) there is nothing to fear, and 2) the noise of the storm is what's frightening you, the our Point Number 3 is to do what the disciples did: Cry out to Jesus!

Each of the recorded disciples cried out their own plea and what did He say? He said, "Why are you fearful, you of little faith?" Here He points out that they had no real reason to fear. He could have gone back to sleep, but He didn't. Because He loved them and to demonstrate His power, He honored their pleas. He will also honor ours. James 1:6 says, "But let him ask in faith without doubting. For the doubter is like the surging sea, driven and tossed by the wind."

And isn't that how we are sometimes, "driven and tossed by the wind." But God honors our requests for peace because He loves us. Listen to what God says to us in Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope." King David understood God's love for us well and He wrote about it in Psalm 56:8-9, "You Yourself have recorded my wanderings. Put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your records? Then my enemies will retreat on the day when I call. This I know: God is for me." Indeed, God is for His children. And don't limit you enemies to physical human opponents. We have more "enemies" than that.

Let us close with a quick recap. When life is hard and you feel helpless in the midst of a fierce storm, remember these three things: #1 If Jesus is with you, no matter what happens around you, you are safe, #2 you are safe, so don't let the sights and sounds of the storm scare you, and #3 if you cannot conquer your fear, then cry out to Jesus. But there is one disclaimer. This is only true if Jesus is with you, and Jesus is not with you unless you are with Him. But be comforted, because God says in Jeremiah 29:12-13, "You will call to Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart." May you find in Him the peace that passes all understanding and may His joy be in you and your joy be complete.