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Calm Within the Storm

A story in the Gospel of Mark features Jesus and the disciples in the midst of a storm. Jesus has been teaching the disciples about His kingdom, a place where things happen according to the rules of heaven, not the ways of the earth. Then He promptly falls asleep in the back of the boat!

And then, right in the middle of their trip, a storm descends. With their heads filled with visions of heaven, they act as though they have never seen a storm before in their lives. They panic. Jesus, asleep, isn’t worried about the storm. He hadn’t said, “Let’s get in this boat to go to the other side—but of course, halfway through we will hit a storm.” He left that last part out. He was so unconcerned about the storm that He took a nap. 

Jesus said they were going to the other side. He said, “Let us cross over to the other side.” In this sentence, “us” speaks of a relationship. It’s “us”—Jesus and you—getting into the boat and going where He has directed. We are going where He has directed us to go and doing what He has directed us to do. He is taking you to the other side. You are on your way. Just because you hit a storm or a roadblock doesn’t mean you’re not in the will of God. 

Regardless of the circumstances in the atmosphere around us, if we truly trust God in this way, His peace will lead us in every decision, even if that means we must “wait and see.” We may not be called to sleep in the back of the boat, but there should be a sense of resting in God, even while the storms of life rage around us. 

There is an eye in the middle of the hurricane where God keeps and protects our hearts. Paul says that peace may not even make any reasonable sense, but it is there, evermore present as we pursue Jesus more. There will be times when you question if He is really with you or not—even if He really exists or not—just like the disciples questioned His word that they would make it to the other side. But when things get tumultuous, we can’t forget He has promised to be with us. We have to remember the last thing He told us to do and hang on to that with both hands.