Stormy Weather: Good News By Vic Dove

 

“But as they sailed He fell asleep, and a fierce gale of wind descended on the lake, and they began to be swamped and to be in danger.”

Luke 8:23

 

 

Have you ever had any fair weather friends? You know the kind of friends that are always around when things are going good, but can never be found when things are going bad. They are always ready to join in as long as it doesn’t cost them anything or if they do not have to do anything, all they’ re interested in is the good time, and when the good time is gone, so are they. I have some good news for you this week; Jesus is not a fair-weather friend.

The Lord will not jump ship at the first sign of a storm. Can you think of any person Jesus has ever left? There are plenty of illustrations in the Bible of people leaving Jesus, and for many different reasons. The prodigal son left for the pleasures of the world. Judas left for money. King Saul left because of his jealousy of David.

Jesus had spent most of the morning preaching to the multitudes, and then He told the disciples to head to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. He needed to rest. But a storm would hit the lake as the disciples crossed to the other side. Jesus must have known about it; He knows all things. Nevertheless, He sent the disciples into a coming storm. The best part of the story is that Jesus went with them into the storm, even though He was asleep.

Have you ever noticed how storms bother us more than they bother the Lord? Jesus knew the storm was coming, but was He concerned? No. He went to sleep. Doesn’t that say something about the troubles in your life? Your storms trouble you a lot more than they trouble the Lord. You may be thinking, the disciples were in trouble, and Jesus knew it but He was sleeping, why? The answer is He was waiting for them to admit they had a problem, and only Jesus could help them with the problem.

What did the disciples do when the waves became rough? They did not turn to Jesus for help when the storm suddenly broke around them. They leaned against the oars; they hoisted the sails, they bailed water, and bailed water, and bailed water. They did everything but ask Jesus for help. They reacted just like me and you when we have a problem. We do everything we can to solve the problem. We forget Jesus is in the boat with us. We forget that Jesus knows about our storms before we ever get into them, and He is in the storm with us, waiting for us to ask Him for help.

Only when the disciples asked for help did Jesus awaken and calm the sea. Though the disciples were probably irritated when they yelled, Master, Master we are perishing, at least they went to Jesus with their problem. Did Jesus care that the disciples were irritated? No. Did He care if they perished? Yes. He cares for His own.

 

 

Shoulder to Shoulder,

 

Bro. Vic