Back in October of last year we explored the story of Jesus and His disciples on the Lake of Galilee in the midst of a fierce storm. This is a continuation of those lessons.

There is yet another principle that we see displayed in this story of Jesus and His disciples on the Lake of Galilee. We see the necessity of storms in the spiritual life of disciples. There were a number of lessons learned on the Lake of Galilee in the midst of this fierce storm that could not have been learned any other way.

For example, the storm reveals to the disciples their powerlessness and their need for someone to rescue them. They are weak and the storm that threatens them is strong and, in their own power they will not survive. Realizing the threat and their own powerlessness, the disciples fly to Jesus for rescue. Without the storms of life, how do we see our need to be rescued and how do we see our dependence on one much more powerful than us? For this reason God brings storms into our life so that we will never forget our weakness and will constantly look to Him for rescue and protection.

Also, the storm provided a perfect context in which Jesus could reveal His true identity and His true power. Up to this point the disciples had seen Jesus perform some pretty amazing miracles, but they still did not grasp who He actually was. And then the storm comes upon them on the lake and this seemingly ordinary man stands up in the boat and commands the wind and the waves to be hushed. If there had been no fierce storm on the lake, there would have been no occasion to realize the identity of the Stiller of the storm, but in the storm, Jesus displays His power and glory when He shows He is God.

If there are only blue skies and if all the rains are gentle and refreshing and if all the seas are calm and all the barns are full of grain and if everything is peaceful and prosperous (etc., etc.), how does God reveal to us that He is mighty to save? If all our problems have human solutions, how does God demonstrate He is a great deliverer?

And so God allows and even brings storms into our lives so that:

• We will call out for help to the great Stiller of the storms;
• We will be reminded of the identity of the God who can still the storms;
• When He delivers us, we will have another testimony to His faithfulness and to the fact that “the eye of the Lord is toward the righteous and His ear is open to their cry.”

So when there are storms in your life, call out to the one who is able to still any storm, realizing that though we are often powerless, He is mighty to save.  SDG    rmb   1/15/2017