2 June 2019 - whom the winds and the sea obey

Today's Readings

(Audio)

"Lord, save us!  We are perishing!"
He said to them, "Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?"

It is right to turn to the LORD when we face storms. But we need not be terrified. 

These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world (see John 16:33).

Jesus wants us to have peace that the storms of life cannot shake. The only peace apart from Jesus is a peace that only exists when there are no storms. In the midst of storms our faith in Jesus can assure us that the victory is already won and the way out is already provided. Even on Good Friday we can see Easter Sunday. We can see straight through the cross to the resurrection.

The men were amazed and said, "What sort of man is this,
whom even the winds and the sea obey?"

Assuredly, if we don't trust in Jesus the waves are terrifying. They are especially terrifying because it seems that Jesus is asleep and we face them on our own. We begin to fear, like Lot, that our own weakness, not Jesus or his lack of power will be our downfall.

But I cannot flee to the hills to keep the disaster from overtaking me,
and so I shall die.

Yet an appropriate lack of confidence in ourselves can conceal a lack of confidence in the power of the LORD at work within us. We might not be able to keep from fear on our own. We might not be able to steer the boat in the storm we face. But Jesus, by his Spirit in us, can do this. Because he overcame we too are made overcomers.

And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death (see Revelation 12:11).

We often come to trust in stages. And although the LORD has enough victory to give us to accomplish his desires for us in one go he is still willing to work with our process.

Let me flee there–it's a small place, is it not?–
that my life may be saved."
"Well, then," he replied,
"I will also grant you the favor you now ask."

The lesson for today is to trust in Jesus even when there is a storm putting us at risk. We might not manage a full and complete trust but at least let us not turn back or to fall away from the trust and victory that we have received so far.

But Lot's wife looked back, and she was turned into a pillar of salt.

Instead, we say, "we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls" (See Hebrews 10:39)

We stand in the peace and the victory of Christ!