Only sailors can face sea storms. You have a business problem because you’re blessed with a business to begin with. You have trouble with your marriage because you’re lucky enough to get married. You believe God for a pair of shoes because you have a pair of legs. Dead people don’t have any problem; the fact that you have any problem at all is an indication that you are alive. Pain is the luxury for the living.
Trouble is a sign of progress. If you do not want to run the risk of facing trouble in life do not try anything progressive. Jesus and His disciples faced a storm because they were going somewhere. Jonah faced a turbulent weather because he was going somewhere so as Paul and his fellow inmates.
In Mark 4:35-41we read this story; “And on that day, when the evening had come, he said to them, come on over to the other side. And getting away from the people, they took him with them, as he was, in the boat. And other boats were here with him. And a great storm of wind came up, and the waves came into the boat, so that the boat was now becoming full.”
Jesus and His disciples had weathered storm in the midst of the sea. You might be facing your own kind of storm right now as you are reading this literature. What I want you to know is that we all face different storms almost on a daily basis. We are very vulnerable to a whole range of storms, from financial storms to health storms. Even the most holy, powerful and influential people like Jesus and His disciples do go through storms.
Christianity does not provide immunity against storms. Jesus did not promise us a storm free life. He promised victory over storms instead. Life itself consists of a series of storms. That you are going through a storm does not mean to say that you are a cursed monster. The first thing that is there in our mind when we are going through some situations is the thought that Jesus has left us. As a matter of fact Jesus does not let us. He is constantly with us in the same boat going through what we are going through.
Not long ago I had an understanding that if anyone falls through difficult situations that a person must be a sinner of some sort. I reckoned keen followers of Jesus couldn’t experience difficulties of any kind in their lives. It is true to say that obedience to God’s word at times helps us evade certain troubles. But it is also true that sometimes trouble comes as we obey God’s word. I mean at times God tells us to do something and He then allows adversity to test our faith in what He said.
When Jesus told His disciples to sail to another side of the sea, the weather was absolutely fine. Immediately after they had started sailing the storm came. The storm came to test their faith concerning what Jesus said.
In Matt. 14:22-34 we read a similar story. Jesus had just fed 5000 people when He told His disciples to get to another side of the waters. Again the sea was calm by the time they started sailing. A couple of miles from the shore the weather turned nasty.
Are you experiencing some trouble as a result of your obedience to His word? That trouble might be confirming that you are going somewhere. If that is the case, the battle is not yours but the Lord’s; be still and know that He is God. He never promised a smooth sailing, but He promised a sure docking.
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