God calmed the storm for Moses.
Pharaoh’s army thundered behind him. The Red Sea turned in the front. Two million Israelites got panicked everywhere. Moses couldn’t turn around – but up. Whether he shook his staff to God or brought up desperately, only Moses knows. But whatever the reason is, he called to heaven. The sea opened. The people crossed. And Egypt faded in the rearview mirror.
Sometimes God soothes the storm.
He takes out the malignant cancer. Does the grumpy boss transfer. Complete the decreasing funds. The breath of heaven blows, the clouds spread and the winter sky turns spring blue.
I am a pastor and I know that our world feels wounded, worried and tired. How should we respond?
Sometimes he calms the storm. Other times he calms the child.
Instead of calming the tempest, he is still the sailor. Instead of removing the disease, he removes the fear. Instead of lifting the debt, he raises the doubts. The storm is still raging. The wind is still crying. But the child is no longer worried – he trusts. He can even sleep.
Jesus did it. Do you remember that night?
Then Jesus got into the boat and started his disciples over the lake. Suddenly a fierce storm hit the lake, with waves that broke into the boat. But Jesus slept. The disciples woke him up and shouted, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”
Jesus replied, “Why are you scared? You have so little faith!” Then he got up and reprimanded the wind and waves, and suddenly there was a great calm.
(Matt. 8: 23–26, NLT)
What do you find more amazing? That Jesus calmed the storm – or that he slept through it?
How exactly do you sleep through a storm? The boat bounced like a ping -pong ball. Waves crashed over the deck. Thunder flourished. The disciples screamed. And Jesus snored. The boat became his cradle.
Could you use that kind of peace?
If so, you are not the only one. Fear is now standard rate.
Recent studies show that 43% of American adults feel more Anxious than they did only a year ago. It is not difficult to see why. We feel in an ambush – Hurricanes strike, forest fires anger, the middle -old faltering war and AI threatens everything, from jobs to our common sense.
In our whirlpool, we sleep less, argue, fight more, digest poorly and hurt everywhere.
In our whirlpool, we sleep less, argue, fight more, digest poorly and hurt everywhere. Unhealthy stress increases blood pressure, dull intimacy and even changes our hair gray. Even mild fear entails a 20% greater risk of death.
Sometimes God soothes the storm. Sometimes he calms the child.
He calmed Bill Loveless.
Bill, a beloved minister who served churches worldwide, was diagnosed with cancer of both the pancreas and the liver. But the news didn’t get him down. Exactly the opposite. In a final letter to friends of his ministry, he wrote:
Immediately when hearing this diagnosis I ran … [into] A new kingdom of God’s presence, his love and his grace. The things I have given have become a living, breathable 3D reality like I have never experienced before. The Lord and I have been in non -stop communion and every day keep filling his presence, love, grace and comfort my soul. I really can’t put into words what the Lord reveals, but I have never experienced such a deep consciousness of his presence.
And God calms my friend Susannah.
She buried her husband only a few weeks ago. A widow on 40. Two high school students. Long nights. An uncertain future. But she has already written me two gratitude letters – one for a notebook that I sent, another for the flowers we sent. “I already look good here,” She wrote.
God did not keep her out of the storm. But he calmed her in the middle of the middle.
No storm ever hit harder than the one who raged through the garden of Gethsemane. And no prayer was ever prayed with more passion than the one who prayed Jesus on the eve of his death: “Can you calm the storm?”
Click here for more the opinion of Fox News
God had calmed storms for Moses. He had protected Daniel. He would deliver Paul and Silas. He could certainly do the same for his own son.
Of course he could. But he chose not to do it.
The cross was part of God’s plan to free his children. God did not calm the storm. But he calmed his son. And Jesus walked to Golgotha in peace. A heaven-sown, illogical, stare-in-the-face-with-a-smile peace.
You can find this peace.
Click here to get the Fox News app
I pray that God calms you storm. If he doesn’t, he can calm you down. And can you find:
“… the peace of God, who surpasses all understanding.”
(Philippians 4: 7, ESV)
Click here to Van Max Lucado
