Don't Panic

Whether for a moment or a season, we all experience raging, turbulent waters. Fear grips our hearts, anger pulses through our veins, heartache leaves us broken, and crying out for relief as the storms rage on.

It's in these times that we often find ourselves grasping at straws in feeble attempts to calm the storms around us. Angry words spew from our lips in hopes that someone will hear our plea and rise against the enemy. Fear backs us into a corner stopping all forward progress. Pain cripples and robs us of all hope that we can survive, let alone overcome our current situation.

So, what do we do in these times? Where do we find help? How do we break free? And what do we do with the pain?

Today's passage holds the key. Let's look at the events that day on the Sea of Galilee, where we find Jesus and his disciples crossing to the other side of the lake. Scripture says a squall arose. It's important to note that a squall isn't just a rainstorm. It's a sudden, violent, turbulent wind gust. We're talking about a storm that involved waves as high as perhaps 20 feet! Imagine the scene… unexpected water pounding the disciples, waves rocking the boat threatening to shatter its frame, wind whipping at up to 20 mph, directives are ringing out as the disciples try to keep the boat from capsizing. Fear grips the disciples.

As the storm rages, the disciples wake Jesus, hurling their pleas for deliverance and safekeeping upon him. Jesus calmly stands and rebukes the wind and waves. The storm calms, and in its aftermath, the disciples stand in sheer amazement. The scene began and ended in calmness.

Friends, the critical element to overcoming life's storms rests not in what the disciples did, but in knowing who Jesus is. Amid this chaos, Jesus slept. How you may ask? He slept because he knows the protection of his Father. He intimately knows and trusts God with every fiber of his being. He rested because he knows that he is eternally safe in his Father's care. Even when the storm raged, Jesus remained steadfast on the knowledge of his Father.

His only response to the disciples was this, "Where is your faith?" Their response? "Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him."

It wasn't that the disciples didn't know Jesus. They had lived, worked, and fellowshipped with him daily. The issue was that they still had much to learn about his power and his faithfulness.

And that's where we may find ourselves today, freaked out in our storms. It's not that we don't know Jesus; it's that we need to walk, talk, and fellowship with him more intimately until we more fully know his power and faithfulness. Then we will know where to put our pain and anger, how to process our fear, and how to remain calm in Jesus, even if the storms around us don't cease.