By Randy Maxwell, vice president for administration
Immediately he spoke to them and said, ‘Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.’
Jesus did not calm all the storms He encountered.
The first time He scolded the storm and hushed it into silence. The second time He let the storm rage to teach the 12, and us, that peace can exist in the midst of the storm.
You see before the disciples were in a storm, Jesus was in one first—a storm of popularity.
Jesus had just fed the 5,000. John’s account of this story reveals that the crowd was going to make Jesus king by force. The disciples were with the crowd, but being an earthly king wasn’t on Jesus’ agenda.
Jesus dispersed the crowd, told the disciples to get in the boat and He’d catch up with them later.
“After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray” (Mark 6:46). Jesus needed to get alone with God and so do we.
When storms come, you need to get alone with God and be still.
“Later that night, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them” (vs. 47, 48).
Though the disciples were fighting the wind, they were never in any real danger because Jesus had His eye on them the whole time.
You see, no matter how great the storm, we are never out of God’s sight. “The eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love” (Psa. 33:18).
From the place of prayer the Lord sees the struggles of those He prays for. He sees you.
Activity Prompt
Bring out the colorful pens, markers, crayons or whatever you would like to draw or color with! Select your paper. Scribble. Doodle. Make a pattern. Or not. Then choose a word such as "peace," "be still," "hope," or phrase or quote of your choosing to write in a black sharpie or another dark pen over your beautiful chaos of colors.
Here's an example -->
Prayer Prompt
Lord, thank You for being with us in the storms and struggles of life. You already have the answer for the difficulties we're going through. We trust You to provide in Your right timing with Your right solution. Make something beautiful out of our chaos for Your honor and glory. Amen.
