In the storms of life

Tonight's post is on Matthew 8:23-27 (NKJV).

²³ Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. ²⁴ And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. ²⁵ Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!”
²⁶ But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. ²⁷ So the men marveled, saying, “Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”

When we make the decision to receive Jesus as our Savior, we "get into the boat" with Him. We set off from the shores of our old lives to go on a faith journey with God.

At first, it's smooth sailing. The seas of our faith journey are placid and the waves are gentle. But then storms come in our lives - job troubles, financial troubles, health problems, personal problems. We feel like the boat of our life is being swamped. Like the disciples, we cry out to God for help, but it seems like God's sleeping when He doesn't respond right away or He responds in a way we don't expect or want.

We are fearful of the outcome of our difficulties. We want our will to be done and not God's. That's when our faith needs to be stronger. We need to spend more time in prayer with God, to hear His voice and listen to His guidance.

Eventually, life's storms end. The seas calm once again. We look back at the storm we have gone through and see that God has been there through it with us through it all. And then we look ahead to the journey we have ahead of us and know that no matter what happens, God will be with us. We can praise Him during and after the storm.

This post reminds me of the old hymn, "Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me." Here are a couple of the verses (courtesy of Cyberhymnal.org):

Jesus, Savior, pilot me
Over life’s tempestuous sea;
Unknown waves before me roll,
Hiding rock and treacherous shoal.
Chart and compass come from Thee;
Jesus, Savior, pilot me.

When the darkling heavens frown,
And the wrathful winds come down,
And the fierce waves, tossed on high,
Lash themselves against the sky,
Jesus, Savior, pilot me,
Over life’s tempestuous sea.

I'm going through some rough seas myself right now. I'm having difficulties at my job - I'm being falsely accused of stuff I didn't do, and I got good reviews but no raise. I'm having health difficulties as well - see the post below for details on that. I guess I need to follow my own advice, huh? I need to press in more in prayer.

Thanks for reading! See you again soon!

Diane