How God Answers in Life’s Storms

This is a stormy season for the world. Collectively, we’re all in it, even though we cannot all be found in the same place of the storm. Some are being battered by every wave because they are out at sea. Others are safely ashore, with the winds merely doing property damage. But collectively, we’re all being affected.

So, what are we to do in unwanted storms?  

It is usually in times like these where people try to get answers that will give certainty about the present and the future. But the truth is, only hindsight is 20/20 and even then, it is clouded by our prejudices. I believe there are many Christians who will groan at the videos, posts, and comments they shared on Facebook, three years from now.

For others, who don’t want to jump on every bandwagon, there are two stories I draw on in times of uncertainty, loss, and pain. The first is Jesus walking on water, and the second is Job.

Jesus walking on water

Before we jump into the walking on water incident, I need to add the backdrop of the story. During the day, Jesus was preaching to the multitudes, who had followed Him out into the wilderness. Late in the day, the disciples encourage Jesus to send the crowds home because they don’t have any bread.

Jesus replies, “You give them something to eat.” There’s a bit of embarrassment among the disciples pointing out that it would take a “year’s wages” to feed all these mouths. Then, after collecting five fish and two loaves, Jesus feeds the multitude. (Mark 6:30 – 44)

Jesus immediately sends the disciples away, while He dismissed the crowds, and went up on a mountainside to pray. The reason behind Jesus’ sudden dismissal of the crowd and his disciples is found in John 6:15:

“Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.”

Here, hidden in the feeding of the multitudes hides another story where Jesus’ disciples misunderstood what he was about. He wasn’t there to establish a Kingdom of force, but of service and self-sacrifice. But the disciples didn’t understand this.

So, at His command off the disciples go, and while Jesus is praying on the mountain, He sees them straining at the oars because of the wind. Shortly before dawn, Jesus walks on the water, passing the boat. The disciples being terrified, cries out, but Jesus replies:

“Don’t be afraid, it is I!”

What it teaches us about storms  

The first is simple; it’s ok to wrestle with the storm and not make any headway. The disciples wore themselves out through the night, and it was only at dawn that Jesus arrived to change the outcome. In scripture, night and day are symbols and here, the symbol is used that Jesus comes along just when the night seems unending.

The second is that sometimes, storms are set in place to remove some of our misunderstandings about God. Mark 6:52 states,

“They were totally amazed, for they still didn’t understand the significance of the miracle of the loaves. Their hearts were too hard to take it in.”

Through my lifelong battle with depression and anxiety, I can clearly identify which times in those seasons my understanding of God’s character and nature grew. It was in those seasons that my faith and compassion also grew.

The final lesson, and the one that gives me hope in these times, is that at the end of all this, we’ll have a better understanding of who Jesus is and what He is about.