Perhaps a storm is brewing – Covid; or heart attack; or job loss; or death of a loved one – perhaps even your primary dependent; and regardless of your sincere, desperate prayers it just seems like God is not coming through for you. Is He asleep, or is it just not your time to be blessed with a response? The frustration seems unbearable, doesn’t it? The disciples felt just as desperate when they felt their lives were at risk on the ship tossing about in the angry waves. Let’s prepare our hearts to best handle this type situation when it happens to us.

DATE POSTED Thursday, 2022-02-03
WRITTEN AT: Okeechobee, FL

BY: Ed Algreen

SCRIPTURE FROM: Matthew 8:23-27
TRANSLATION: New Living Translation (NLT)

BIBLE TEXT: 23 …. Jesus got into the boat and started across the lake with his disciples. 24 Suddenly, a fierce storm struck the lake, with waves breaking into the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25 The disciples went and woke him up, shouting, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”  26 Jesus responded, “Why are you afraid? You have so little faith!” Then he got up and rebuked the wind and waves, and suddenly there was a great calm.  27 The disciples were amazed. “Who is this man?” they asked. “Even the winds and waves obey him!”

APPLICATION: I‘m not sure that there is anyway to prepare our emotions and our minds in advance of a disaster, because no matter what type of recovery plan we may prepare for ourselves for, our plan will become very fluid when disaster actually hits. Hopefully by now you may have thought about a scenario that occurred in your life when you felt alone, and hopeless about how to best handle life after that scenario. I remember receiving a phone call from a very calm and confident person on the other end of the line, but the news was anything but calming. My wife and daughter had been involved in a car accident and were on their way to the hospital. I excused myself from a meeting and arrived at the hospital about 19 miles away, before my wife and daughter could arrive from the scene of the accident approximately 2 miles away. Not sure that my presence made any difference to the promptness of care received, but in my mind, and in the mind of my family, we were all reassured in having the whole family together during this time of crisis. Lots of prayers for the wellbeing of my family, but it was challenging to not see God act as fast as I wished for. In our Scripture, the disciples were most afraid that their boat would sink, and many of them would drown. But they became very frustrated that Jesus remained asleep while all of this was going on. Now, look at the response from Jesus: He accused them of having too little faith. In other words, the disciples had just seen Him restore health to Peter’s mother, and He healed a leper. So why would they even think that the waves were out of His control? In fact, as His disciples, why were they not following Jesus’ example and calling on the power of God to calm the waters that threatened their existence? Friends, way too often we are just like the disciples. We need the pastor to pray over our situation. Good idea, but haven’t we already personally prayed for our situation? We want our family and friends to visit church, and what a wonderful place to have them join you. But have you personally witnessed to your family members and told them about Jesus? What if storms arise and that family member never makes it to your church service to hear the Gospel. How would you explain to God why they died without hearing about Jesus? Let’s be quick to remember that we don’t control God. He is not a puppet waiting for our next command. Be in close communion with Him on a daily basis, and through calling on Him for little, and big things. No doubt He wants to grow your faith and your assurance in all that He is capable of, including responding to our prayers when we are calm and when we are in panic mode. Isaiah 24:6 says that we are to trust the Lord our God, for He is a mighty Rock. Know what He is capable of, then trust Him to perform His mighty works in all things, even if the answer looks a little different to what we would prefer to see. He’s not asleep my friends!

BLESSING(S) NOTED: We serve a God who not only brings new life into a very sick woman; restoration of a person’s skin that has been destroyed by leprosy; but He is also King over the waters He created and will calm the storms of our life, no matter what they are. That’s our God!

PRAYER: Thank You Lord that we serve such an awesome, all-powerful God! So many days we feel overwhelmed by the storms of life that seem to bombard us, and we are helpless to overcome them, but praise God we serve a God who can do exceedingly more than we could imagine! You simply spoke the word and the winds subsided, resulting in the tumultuous waves being calmed. Oh that we would learn to bring those things before You that seem so huge to us, in fact appears like they are much bigger than anything we could handle. Thank You Lord for being such a powerful influence in our lives, yet One who is able to handle every problem that comes our way. Teach us Lord to always place our faith and trust in You through every storm, each and every day. AMEN!