Lessons
Nobody gets to navigate in trouble-free waters.
Storms come in all shapes and sizes.
Sometimes you need the storm to see the glory.
Jesus is Lord of the Storm.
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Closing
What storm are you going through in your life right now? Is it a storm of addiction – trying to break free from a bondage you have had for years? Is it a storm of sickness – praying and believing God for healing? Is it a storm of financial pressures – trying to get out of debt? Is it a storm of relationship challenges – trying to restore a broken relationship? Is it a storm of doubt and hopelessness? How can we hope to survive the storm? There are storms coming in your life that will be beyond you. You will be out of your depth: bereavement, illness, relational betrayal, and financial disaster. I don’t care how hard you work, how smart you are, how many good connections you have. I don’t care what you do. You’re not going to avoid those things.
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Maybe you’re riding a storm, searching the coastline for a light, a glimmer of hope. Matthew 14:28, immediately Jesus in verse 27 says … just what Mark said., “Take courage, it’s I, do not be afraid. Peter said to Him,” verse 28, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”
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Believer, Jesus saith to you, “I am.” Is your wife dead? Is your child to be buried? Have your possessions failed? Is your health departing? Are your joys declining? Alas! it is a dying, fleeting world, but there is One who is always the same, for Jesus says to you, “I am; and because I live, you shall live also.” “He has ultimate authority, and when he comes into my life, he has to be the center of my life. He is the preeminent thing. It doesn’t matter what else I want to do. It doesn’t matter what other things I love. Loving him, obeying him, following him, has absolute, unconditional, unconditioned authority in my life.”
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Jesus says: “There’s one storm in which I do sink. There’s one storm in which the waves and the billows go over me. I won’t walk over them. I’m going under the only storm that can really kill you. It’s the storm of justice, the storm of punishment for sin, the storm of eternal justice. I’m going under those waves. I’m going under those billows. I’m going to be really cast out. It’s because I sank in the only storm that can really kill you that you’re going to be able to walk with me through every other storm that ever strikes you.”
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In other words, Jesus Christ is not only a Lord. He’s a Savior. He’s a substitute. If you’re in a storm right now, you look at it and say, “How do I know he’s with me?” My goodness. What you say is, “If he refused to abandon me in the only storm that can really kill me, if he went under all of those real waves, all of those real billows, for me, then he’s not going to abandon me now.” And even though you can’t see Jesus right now, He can see you. And He knows what you are going through. And He is watching you. And He cares about you. And when the time is right, He is going to come to you with the solution that you need.
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Jesus is Lord of the Storm.
