Stressed OutSýnishorn

The storm terrified the disciples out on the sea that morning. A figure was walking outside their boat on the water. The disciples had already assumed it was a ghost. The waves were spewing cold seawater, the wind was rocking their boat, blowing into their soaked clothes. Life was bigger than they were. They couldn’t stop the storm or the boat rocking. But Jesus didn’t want His friends to stay scared and overwhelmed. He spoke, and He spoke powerfully. Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid” (Matthew 14:27). “It is I,” He said. It’s the same way God introduced Himself to Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3:14) — “I Am.” It’s the same phrase that was so powerful, it would knock over the soldiers who came to arrest Jesus (John 18:5-6).

Jesus wanted His friends in the storm to know that God was with them—the same God they had followed all their lives. “Take courage,” Jesus was saying, “The God of all is here.” The God of all is with us in our storms too. When life is bigger than we are, when we’re tossing and turning with stress at night because life is just too much, God is with us. God showed and spoke His power right in the midst of His friends’ storm. And if we listen when we’re in the storm, we’ll hear the same—the I Am is with us. We can take courage. Let your fearful heart rest in Him.