A storm at sea can be fascinating provided it doesn’t last long, and provided you are safe in a ship large enough to ride the storm in ease. I was in such a storm in November 1955 while serving in the U.S. Army.
Once I got my “sea legs” I began to enjoy the storm. I liked to look at the waves; watch them come crashing up against the windows and see the great expanse of grey water when the ship rode the crest of a wave and feel the exhilarating plunge as the ship suddenly plunged down into the trough of a wave.
I enjoyed the storm because I was safe. Our ship was big enough and strong enough to withstand everything the storm threw at us. I was in a place of safety and security in the midst of the storm. Had I been in a small fishing boat, I would have been terrified, just as the disciples were terrified one day.
A Storm On the Sea
The Sea of Galilee could be as beautiful as a picture postcard. It could also be a raging terror. The mountains along the west side of the lake are cut through with deep valleys and gulleys. These act like a gigantic funnel. Everything on the lake would be calm, when, without warning, the wind would rush down through those deep valleys and gulleys with a startling suddenness, and a savage violence, and without warning. One moment the lake is calm and peaceful, with just a gentle breeze blowing – and the next it is a churning, savage, wild terror.
One evening, after a tiring day of teaching, Jesus asked the disciples to take him to the other side of the lake. As they were going, a furious storm of hurricane proportions arose, and the waves kept beating into the boat, so that it was already becoming filled with water.
Jesus was in the stern of the boat, asleep on the leather cushions. They awoke him, and said to him, “Master, do you not care that we are perishing?”
Jesus arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Hush now! Be still!” and the wind ceased and there was immediately a great calm, a perfect peacefulness.
Jesus said to them, “Why are you so timid and fearful? How is it that you have no faith – no firmly relying trust?”
And they were filled with great awe and feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey him?”
Freedom From Fear
There are two things this incident tells us. One is very obvious; the other is often missed.
The obvious is this: “There’s no need to fear. Jesus is here!” Jesus is the lord of life’s storms; life is full of storms. Some are exhilarating experiences, and we enjoy them because we are safe.
Other storms, like death, shake us to our roots. Death snatches from us one we love. It leaves us with the ache, the emptiness, the countless memories that come flooding in, bringing tears. Death leaves us with a wounded spirit.
However, no matter how fierce it may seem, death is not the master. Jesus is the Master. Jesus is the Lord of life’s storms. When you have Jesus living in you, you have the Lord of the storms with you in your boat. As the disciples cried out, so can we cry out and Jesus will speak the words, “Hush now! Be still!” Then the churning inside us will become calmness. Death will lose its fearsomeness and its sting.
The final word on death is given by Paul in his letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 5 Verse 54: “and when this perishable body puts on the imperishable, and this that was capable of dying puts on freedom from death, then shall be fulfilled the scripture that says, death is swallowed up, utterly vanquished, forever in and unto victory,”
The Seed of the Word
Yes, Jesus is Lord over life’s storms. That is the obvious message of His calming the storm on the Lake of Galilee. But there is another message that is often missed. To catch this second message, we must review the events of that day.
The day had begun as a crowd gathered around Jesus to hear Him teach. So great was the crowd that Jesus was forced to get into a boat and sit in it out on the Sea. Jesus’ theme this day was on the Word of God. The Word of God is like a seed. It is planted in the heart. Like a seed is planted in the ground, given the right conditions that seed will grow and produce 30, 60, even a hundred-fold.
But there are enemies of the seed. First, Satan tries to get the seed out of you because he knows just how powerful that Word of God is. And he knows what you can do with that word once it starts to grow. As it grows, then the cares, the anxieties of the world, the distractions and pleasures and delights and false glamour of the age cause us to neglect the Word of God, and it is choked out.
Why the Word of God?
Why is the seed, the Word of God, so important that Jesus would spend a whole day teaching about it?
The answer lies in what God says about His Word. In Isaiah Chapter 55 Verses 10 and 11, God says: “for as the rain and snow come down from the heavens, and return not there again, but water the earth and make it bring forth and sprout, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth). It shall not return to me void – without producing any effect, useless – but it shall accomplish that which I please and purpose, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
It was by His word that God created all things. Peter reminds us of this in his letter: “Heavens came into existence long ago by the Word of God.” In the original Hebrew in which the Old Testament was written, the creation of light is described like this: God said, “Light be.” And light was.
God’s Word possess power in and of itself. It will accomplish the purpose for which it was spoken. And it was that Word that had been going into the disciples’ ears all day. They had the Word of God in them. All they needed to do was use that Word.
I don’t know if you caught it before, but after Jesus had calmed the storm, he turned on his disciples and chewed them out! “Why are you so timed and fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” In other words, Jesus was saying to them: Why didn’t you speak the Word and calm the storm? All day I’ve been teaching you about the Word of God. Hasn’t any of that sunk into your heads? You didn’t have to wake me up, all! All you needed to do was say, ‘Storm, in the name of Jesus, be still! And it would have obeyed you.”
Using the Word of God In Your Life
The Word. The disciples had the word in them. All they needed to do was use that Word, and no storm in life could ever threaten them again. And I declare to you that that is the secret of mastering every storm that life can throw at you. If you put that word in your hearts, and use it, even death itself will have to bow its knees before the mighty name of Jesus.
Listen to what some of the men of the Bible wrote as they began to use the word of God and God delivered them:
He lifted me out of the pit of despair,
Out from the bog and the mire,
And set my feet on a hard, firm path.
And steadied me as I walked along,
He has given me a new song to sing,
Of praises to our God,
Now many will hear of the glorious things he did for me.
And stand in awe before the Lord,
And put their trust in him, (Psalm 40:2-3 NLT)
In my troubles I pled with God to help me, and he did! (Psalm 120:1 TLB)
…cheer up! Take courage if you are depending on the Lord. (Psalm 31:24 TLB)
God is our refuge and strength, a tested help in times of trouble. (Psalm 46:1 TLB)
Give your burdens to the Lord. He will carry them. (Psalm 55:22a TLB)
When I pray, You answer me and encourage me by giving me the strength I need. Though I am surrounded by troubles, You will bring me safely through them. (Psalm 138:3, 7a TLB)
The Lord lifts the fallen and those bent beneath their loads…He is close to all who call on Him sincerely. (Psalm 145:14, 18 TLB).
Fear not, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed. I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my victorious right hand. (Isaiah 41:10 TLB).
He gives power to the tired and worn out. And strength to the weak. Even youths shall be exhausted, and the young men shall give up. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings, like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:1, 10a, 11, 28b – 31 TLB)
The Word of God Is the Answer To Life's Storms
Let this word of God that you have heard today dwell in your hearts. Allow it to put forth roots, to sprout forth from the ground, to leaf out, blossom, and bear fruit. In that Word is power: power over every storm, power over the storm of death. That word will turn your sorrow into joy.
