JESUS IN THE STORM
One of the most
fascinating movies that I watched when I was a kid was the Vertical Limit. It
tells a story about several climbers TRAPPED IN A STORM during their climb on
the K2, one of the world’s biggest mountains. As they tried to find their way out, they had to conquer their fear and
survive the extreme weather, which made things worse. Hope was lost, friends
became enemies and people show their true nature. I bet we can all relate to
this kind of feeling, being trapped in our stormy life situations.
This movie reminds
me of the time when Jesus walked on water. After feeding thousands of people
with 5 breads and 2 fishes, Jesus told the disciples go ahead and cross the
lake while he prayed up on a mountainside. Isn’t this moment familiar? Most of
the time, after seeing such great miracle occurring in our life, our faith is then TESTED by the LONELINESS that is about to come.
As the disciples
were ALONE, a strong wind started to come against them and pushes the boat away
from land. You know what happens next, Jesus walked on water trying to reach to
them and probably calm them down, but the disciples thought otherwise.
‘When the disciples saw him walking on
the lake, they were TERRIFIED. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in
fear.’
Matthew 14:26
Is
it possible that in the toughest times in our lives, we MISTAKENLY SEE God’s
work and help as DISTRACTIONS or even DISTURBANCES?
God
uses MYSTERIOUS and NON-UNDERSTANDABLE ways to help and remind us that we could only rely on Him. Sadly, most often we would do the EXACT OPPOSITE, relying on our own understanding SEEMS to be a better option! No wonder we CONFUSE OURSELVES and fear what is coming to help and save us.
It
didn't stop there. Once they realized it was Jesus, He used another method that
is OUT OF THE NORMS. He invited Peter to walk on water even when the wind was STRONG.
‘“Lord, if
it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
“Come,” he said.’
Matthew 14:28-29
When help seems to be
there, the TEST of the faith doesn't stop immediately. It probably leveled up. There was NO INSTRUCTIONS taught to Peter on how to walk on water. Jesus didn't give him a
short course on walking on water; all He gave was an INVITATION.
When God jumps in to help,
all you need is to ACCEPT the invitation.
Many friends in trouble
would ask me a step-by-step method on what to do next. Mostly, I personally wouldn’t
know what to say other than RELY ON GOD! Could it actually be the ONLY THING
we need to do in times of troubles?
Instead of asking God for
the steps and the list of things we need to do, God needs us to SAY 'YES' to His
invitation and rely on Him with our situations. He will deal with the
situation as soon as WE BELIEVE He would.
As soon as we believe that
Jesus is in the storm WITH US, we would know that every storm would have its
end. Even better, we now know that every storm comes with a GOOD PURPOSE that
Jesus has for us.
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