When We’re on a Sinking Ship

One reason youth leave the church is because they do not feel they have experienced God, especially in the area of answered prayer. That is what a recent Canadian report called “Hemorrhaging Faith: Why and When Young Canadians are Leaving, Staying and Returning to the Church” says.

In my work as a journalist, I had the opportunity to interview some thinkers on this topic of unanswered prayer. They all said to me that because (of course) we can’t force God to answer the youths’ prayers in just the way they would like, what we need to do is teach better about prayer.

What do answers look like? Sound like? How do we ask? How long does God take to answer? And what is life really like?

If youth are prepared for the harsh reality that being a Christ-follower does not mean a walk in the park—it might, after all, mean a trip in a rocking, heaving, sinking ship—then they are better prepared to hear God, see God, and experience God as he reveals himself to us in every circumstance.

The disciples experienced a storm. They experienced themselves full-on, and they experienced God’s power in this familiar “stuck in a boat in a storm” story.

This passage tells us about Jesus, about what life can be like, and about what we can be like. Jesus demonstrates his supernatural power to control even the wind and the waves. The disciples demonstrate their very natural fear, but also their comfort in approaching for help the One that they still clearly had not quite figured out.

And of course, we see once again, that bad things happen to good people.

Storms hit. Boats sink. We doubt. We pray.

God answers.

Respond in Prayer

Thank you, God, that you are in the boat with us. Storms do come. They make us doubt. Help our doubt. Where there are storms, let there be peace.

Amen.

Karen Stiller