I’m not yet completely out of it but I thought I’ll write this because there might be someone else feeling the same way.
Jesus says in John 14:27 – “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
This promise that Jesus will give us peace is completely true. I know because I’ve felt it in the past. I may not be feeling it at this very moment but I know that I’ve felt it before. This peace is the one that transcends all understanding. People will marvel at how you are calm in the storm but you are because Jesus is with you in the midst of the storm.
I would like to suggest, the reason we get overwhelmed with our struggles is because we forget who is with us.
When the disciples were in the boat before Jesus calmed the storm (Matthew 8:23–27, Mark 4:35–41, and Luke 8:22–25), they were panicking. While they were afraid, what was Jesus doing? Sleeping.
Sometimes it feels like all God is doing in the midst of our troubles is sleeping. It’s as if He’s turned His face from us and has let us perish whilst He is unaware what is going on.
Whilst that may be what it seems like, the truth is that “Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep” (Psalm 121:4).
Jesus, the Word who was with God and is God (John 1:1) is never unaware of our situation because “He is always with us, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:10).
Back to the story, the disciples were so scared and called Jesus, panicking that they were going to perish. The truth is some of us don’t even go straight to Jesus when we have problems. We go to our therapist or family member or close friend, thinking that they can help us. The only person who can undo the damage is Jesus.
You may think that the damage is the storm but I also want to suggest that the problem wasn’t necessarily the storm. It was how the disciples reacted to the storm.
See, as the story goes on, Jesus rebuked the wind and the waves and told them to “Be still”. And the wind and the waves listened.
Then Jesus didn’t tell the disciples, “look the storm is finally over!”. He asked them “Why are you so fearful? Is it that you have no faith?”
His problem wasn’t with the wind, because all the wind knew was to destroy but rather with the people who knew Him and should have had faith that God will deliver them from the storm. After all they were with Jesus.
Sometimes that’s the problem with our situations. We look at the storm or the giant in front of us with fear, thinking that we are too small and feeble to fight against it. But Jesus is trying to remind us that we are not alone. He is there with us and He has given us the power and the authority to “trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt us (Luke 10:19)."
So I hope this hasn’t discouraged you or made you feel upset, but rather that it makes you realise that “you are more than a conqueror through Him who loves us” (Romans 8:37) and your storm doesn’t have to take your peace and faith, but rather it can build your faith because it teaches you to exercise your faith in God.
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