Today I was thinking about the story of Jesus calming the storm. I guess I have personally been in a bit of a storm this week as our plan to adopt has gone up and down and sideways, like those disciples being tossed around in the boat in that storm.
Photo Source: www.creationswap.com by Danny J
The storm was so bad that they were afraid for their lives. Their boat could have easily capsized and dumped them all into the sea of Galilee in the middle of a huge storm. And where was Jesus in all this? Well he was asleep. When they got so afraid they finally woke Jesus up, he chastised them for their unbelief, as he so often seemed to do, and then put their fears at ease by speaking to the storm and calming the wind and the waves with his spoken word. (You can read about it in Mark 4:35-41).
What’s the lesson from this story? Some people might focus on the lack of faith of the disciples, others might see Jesus, so exhausted from doing the work of the kingdom that he didn’t have time to be afraid of the storm, or some might see a lesson on how even nature itself obeys the commands of Jesus. You could write a whole book on the lessons drawn from this one story. (And someone probably has.)
We all come to the scriptures with our personal experiences and baggage, our preconceived ideas of what it really means and how it lines up with our doctrine. But the wonder of the scripture is that it is alive and living and God-breathed, so we can come to it time and time again and get something new every time.
We each have a different lesson that God gives us from the scripture that meet our needs right now. God can speak to my storm and say, “Peace. Be still.” Or he can teach me to have peace in my soul in the midst of the storm. For me that’s the lesson I need today. In spite of the storm, I need to have peace.
What’s the lesson God is speaking to you about today?