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Peace in Chaos 

Is it possible to be peaceful even when you’re in the middle of something painful? The short answer is yes, but that doesn’t make the process less painful. In fact, you can experience peace and pain at the same time. 

The disciples and early followers of Jesus knew this firsthand. They weren’t strangers to storms. And while they always remained faithful, that doesn’t mean they never experienced frustration, confusion, doubt, or anxiety. Just look at what Paul wrote about his experiences: 

We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 2 Corinthians 1:8-9 NIV

Paul didn’t want to sugarcoat their experiences. He didn’t want people to think they found purpose without pain. But he also didn’t want to focus so much on his suffering that they missed what God was doing in the story. 

We tend to want purpose and peace without pain. We tend to think that if something isn’t going well, then it isn’t worth it. But Jesus never promised us an easy life here on earth. In fact, He made sure we knew that we would have troubles in this world. But He also left us hope and peace that He has already conquered all of it. 

And even though He’s conquered all of it, He still comforts us through it. In that same passage in 2 Corinthians, Paul writes about how they experienced God’s supernatural comfort through the chaos of their circumstances. And he presents it as an opportunity for us to extend that same comfort to others. 

We will face storms in this life. But those storms often reveal the status of our faith. Do we respond by seeing the significance of our suffering? Or do we focus on the wrong questions? 

In Mark 4, we read about a literal storm the disciples were facing. The wind and the waves were pounding, and they were concerned they would drown. Jesus, meanwhile, was sleeping on the boat. So, the disciples did what most of us would do. They frantically woke Jesus up and asked: 

… “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?” Mark 4:38 NLT

Isn’t that the question we’re most tempted to ask during storms in our own lives? God, don’t You care? 

Jesus responds by settling the storm but also challenging their comfort. He cared enough to not only solve their problem but also ask about the status of their faith. 

When we know who Jesus is, we can be confident that He cares about our storms, and He is with us during them. So, can we have peace during pain? Yes. But it requires faith—trusting that our pain has purpose and our God is unfazed through the process.