Two Storms
Part I : Lessons from the Tempest
The noise on the roof was thunderous. Living in my motorhome with windows on every side, I had nowhere to go. I huddled between the two couches, fearful that at any moment one of the baseball-sized hailstones would break a window, showering me with glass.
That experience gave me insight as I read through the descriptions of the storms in Matthew 8:23-27 and 14:22-33 this week.
I’ve never experienced a storm at sea, but I can imagine the noise and panic it would cause.
Being surrounded by mountains, the Sea of Galilee was susceptible to sudden and violent storms. Since many were fishermen, this wasn’t an unfamiliar experience for the disciples. But there was something different about these two storms we read about in the scriptures.
In the first storm, we find the disciples terrified and fearing for their lives. During the second, they were weary and alone. In both instances, Jesus performed a miracle to prove His deity and increase their faith.
“Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, ‘Lord, save us! We are perishing!’” (Matt 8:23-25)
The Greek word used here for ‘tempest’ is σεισμός seismos. And when used to relate to the ground, it is translated as earthquake. This was no ordinary storm. Some commentators even suggest the source of the storm was satanic. As Jesus doesn’t merely ‘quiet’ the storm. In verse twenty-six, He ‘rebukes’ the wind and the sea.
The disciples are terrified. The boat is being lashed by the waves and quickly filling with water. Yet Jesus is content to sleep through it all!
What a picture! The humanity and trust of our Savior against a backdrop of this fierce, perhaps even supernatural tempest.
Jesus was likely bone-weary from the endless walking and healings. But it was His complete trust in the Father that allowed Him to sleep through the storm.
I think back to my experience in that hailstorm. Like the disciples, I was crying out to Jesus to protect me. Had He been with me in bodily form, He may very well have been in the back bedroom sleeping. Why? Because no matter what happens, even if the windows had shattered and I was covered in glass (the worst thing in my mind, at the time), Jesus knows God’s promises are true.
God has promised good to me. So much so, that even when bad things happen in this fallen, sin-filled world, He promises to work out those things (even those things!) for my good.
We can’t see all the intersections of our faith. But God does, and He’s already there.
So Jesus awakens, and in the midst of the tempest, He looks at His disciples and asks, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Jesus asks us the same question in the midst of our storms. “Where is your faith?” We are not to wait until the storm passes. Jesus wants us to trust Him right then, in the midst of the storm, even when we don’t understand. Even when all seems lost.
“Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.” (Matt 8:26)
The disciples are stunned. Despite them asking Him to save them, despite all the miracles they’ve just witnessed, they marvel.
“Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?” (v. 27)
The psalmist knew. It could be none other than LORD, Jehovah: “O LORD God of hosts, Who is mighty like You, O LORD? Your faithfulness also surrounds You. You rule the raging of the sea; When its waves rise, You still them.” (Psa 89:8-9)
In the span of a few moments, the disciples saw both the complete humanity of Jesus (in His tired sleep) and the fullness of His deity.¹
It would take the sending out of the twelve, the death of John the Baptist, and a miracle with five loaves and two fishes before they would proclaim Him as He is: truly man and truly God.
What about you? Who are you trusting to save you from the storms of life? God’s promises are for those who love Him. Those who are pursuing His purpose for their lives. Does that describe you?
Shalom.
Photo credit: @tdederichs on unsplash
¹David Guizik Enduring Word Commentary