Life’s Storms

Jesus had spent the day speaking to large crowds of people on the shores of Galilee. Jesus’ words would echo in the people’s minds for a long time and down throughout eternity.

As evening fell, Jesus spoke to His disciples, inviting them on a journey with Him. “ ‘Let us cross over to the other side’ ” (Mark 4:35, NKJV). Jesus knew a storm would come but suggested they go anyway. He had an important life lesson to teach His closest followers.

You likely know what happened next.

Consider these points:

1. Jesus falls asleep on what was likely the only pillow in the boat. The fishing boats usually had one pillow, which the driver of the boat, at the stern, sat on. The person at the stern guided the boat to the destination. So here, Jesus is in the position of the boat’s “driver,” but He falls asleep at the wheel.
2. Not all the disciples were new to sailing. Peter, James, and John were experienced fishermen. They knew the Sea of Galilee, and they would have known how to navigate a storm.
3. This is the only recorded Gospel account of Jesus sleeping. During one of the worst storms in their lives, when the disciples are ter­rified and think they’re going to die, Jesus is asleep at the stern.
4. The disciples’ response in their time of crisis is “Do You not care?” They questioned Jesus’ character and His love for them. Too often, this is also our response when we face hard times.

It’s in the midst of hopelessness that we might try to save ourselves (like the disciples), or sometimes it’s when we feel pain or loss that we start to question or doubt God’s love and care for us. We presume that He should act in a certain way based on what we think and see from our human perspective. But, as with the disciples, it’s in life’s storms that God can work the greatest miracles. God is always faithful, even when His apparent lack of involvement doesn’t make sense to us. He’s in our storms with us and can calm the storm when we cannot.

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Additional Reading: Selected Quotes from Ellen G. White

Before our Lord went to His agony on the cross, He made His will. He had no silver or gold or houses to leave to His disciples. He was a poor man, as far as earthly possessions were concerned. Few in Jerusalem were so poor as He. But He left His disciples a richer gift than any earthly monarch could bestow on his subjects. “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you,” He said; “not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
He left them the peace which had been His during His life on the earth, which had been with Him amidst poverty, buffeting, and persecution, and which was to be with Him during His agony in Gethsemane and on the cruel cross.
The Saviour’s life on this earth, though lived in the midst of conflict, was a life of peace. While angry enemies were constantly pursuing Him, He said, “He that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.” No storm of satanic wrath could disturb the calm of that perfect communion with God. And He says to us, “My peace I give unto you.”
Those who take Christ at His word, and surrender their souls to His keeping, their lives to His ordering, will find peace and quietude. Nothing of the world can make them sad when Jesus makes them glad by His presence. In perfect acquiescence there is perfect rest. The Lord says, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” . . .
Every man’s experience testifies to the truth of the words of Scripture: “The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest.” . . . Sin has destroyed our peace. . . . The masterful passions of the heart no human power can control. We are as helpless here as were the disciples to quiet the raging storm. But He who spoke peace to the billows of Galilee, has spoken the word of peace for every soul. However fierce the tempest, those who turn to Jesus with the cry, “Lord, save us,” will find deliverance. His grace, which reconciles the soul to God, quiets the strife of human passion, and in His love the heart is at rest. “He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. . . . So he bringeth them unto their desired haven.” . . .
The heart that is in harmony with God is a partaker of the peace of heaven, and will diffuse its blessed influence all around. The spirit of peace will rest like dew upon hearts weary and troubled with worldly strife.—Reflecting Christ, p. 278.