RW | Blessed Is The Storm That Draws Us Closer To Christ

In Luke 8:22, Jesus said to the disciples prior to them getting into the boat; “Let us cross over to the other side of the lake.” And they launched out.” These words should have been very important to them. So often, our failure is due to our distrust of Jesus’ words to us! If we would only trust and obey His words, how much more peace would fill our day?! Consider the facts in this story, according Matthew 8:23-27:

1. Several of these men were accomplished fishermen who sailed on this very lake for a living and who were familiar with its ways. They were going to have to accept Christ’s words to them as true despite their own understanding and experience. Friends, life is a choice; we can not change our circumstances but we do have a choice in how we are going to react to them. We can react in panic or in peace; it’s our choice!

2. This lake is prone to these sudden, violent storms. The words used here in the original Greek language to mean “great tempest” is the word “seismos” which we use for the study of earthquakes: Seismology. 

Simply stated, this storm was very powerful! The geography of this lake is such that it is located 60 miles from Jerusalem and 30 miles from the Mediterranean Sea. The Sea of Galilee is a freshwater lake that is fed by the Jordan River and is 13 miles long and 8 miles wide with a depth of up to 150 feet. This lake is 680 feet below sea level yet with mountains around it that rise up to over 9,000 feet above sea level. So what happens is that cold air comes off of Mount Herman through a narrow ravine into the Sea of Galilee, hitting the warm air that comes off the lake, thus causing powerful storms to erupt quickly and without warning. Waves can reach higher than 25 feet with a face of 40 feet. They were traveling across this lake on a trip of approximately 5 miles. These guys were terrified; they had been on this lake during storms before and this time they felt that they were going to die. 

Have you ever felt that as you were going through some circumstance, a really powerful storm, and that Jesus was asleep in your boat? It feels as if He is not awake to what we are going through! I believe all of us believers can relate to their reaction here. The boat was covered with waves, but Jesus was asleep! Let me state the obvious: Jesus knew the storm was going to come up and He certainly could have prevented it from ever happening if He wanted to, but He chose not to. Our Lord is more interested in our growing closer to Him than He is making sure that our life is “smooth sailing”.  Brothers and sisters, we can only grow closer to Him as we learn to trust His words through the storms of life!

Blessings,

Pastor Dale