Jesus Calms the Storm

As I mentioned in the previous post, I help teach and lead the women’s Bible study at my church.  This spring we are walking through stories of Jesus in the Gospels.  This post and a couple of future ones are some of the work and devotion of those Bible studies. Today we’ll be in Luke as Jesus calms the storm. 

Luke 8:22-25

22One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they set out, 23and as they sailed he fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger. 24And they went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm. 25He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?”

Before we jump in, watch this short video that will give you a little more insight into the context and background of this story.

After reading this story I’m thoroughly convinced of Jesus’ divinity.  I have a hard time falling asleep when I’m exhausted, sleep deprived, medicated and in a quiet, dark room.  Who can sleep through a storm, through people yelling, and on a rocking and lurching wooden boat? 

Only God himself!  Yet, this passage is also such a great picture of Jesus’ humanity.  He has been going from town to town preaching and teaching, healing and restoring, spending long days on his feet and crowded by people.  He gets in the boat to cross the sea with his disciples and falls into a deep sleep.  He took on flesh and is now enrobed in a fragile body that is able to be tired, needing rest and sleep.  

The storm rages and his disciples panic and wake Jesus to do something. Jesus wakes and “rebukes” the storm and there was calm. I love this picture of reprimanding the wind and waves.  He speaks words and creation obeys.  Let this be like a little bell going off in your head that reminds you of the beginning.  In the first chapter of the Bible, we see God speaking and all creation sprouts into existence.  Out of nothing life was spoken into existence.  God as creator and authority over all creation.  The same thing is happening here.  Jesus speaks and creation obeys.  The disciples marvel at this and say, “Who then is this, that he commands even the winds and water, and they obey him?” (vs. 25) In the same passage we see Jesus’ humanity as he rests and sleeps, and also his divinity as he is able to command the winds and the waves. 

He then speaks to the disciples, “Where is your faith?” (vs. 25).  As an often exhausted parent I can read Jesus’ words with annoyance.  I don’t often wake from a nap to panicked kids in a cheerful mood.  I’m also a fallen sinner and we need to remember that Jesus is not.  Note here that Jesus rebukes the wind and waves, and then speaks to his disciples.  He doesn’t join them in their panic.  He doesn’t add to the chaos of the moment.  He brings calm.  He brings calm to the storm and he brings calm to the hearts of his men.  Read Jesus’ words with calm and patience  as if to say, “Where is your faith, my child.”  As you read that, remember that Jesus was asleep.  How many people can sleep when they are afraid for their lives?  Jesus could rest fully and completely because he was never afraid.  He rested in the power of himself as God the Son.  He knew he could control the storm.  He knew he could, at any moment, change everything.  He could fully rest because he fully trusted the power of God. Yet, the disciples did not.  They woke Jesus.  We can debate if that was out of faith that he would do something, or out of fear to hand him a bucket and make him help bail water.  Either way, they woke him to act.  His presence wasn’t enough for them to rest as well.  

Even in his presence, the disciples doubted Jesus’ goodness and care for them.

In the storms of life, I can often doubt God’s goodness and care for me, because often instead of calming my storm, he joins me in it.  

I don’t know about you, but when life gets stormy, my first step is not to trust in God’s presence and power.  My first inclination is to roll up my sleeves, put on my rain boots, and start bailing water.  When my child gets sick, I bust out the 15 natural remedies in my sickness protocol.  When finances get tight, I write up a plan for how to hustle our way out of it–refinish a few more dressers, sell a few more things, etc. When the storm comes, I first try to fix it.  Yet, no matter how many times I try, the storm doesn’t obey my voice. 

But there is someone in the boat that can calm that storm.  Key word: can.  Can doesn’t mean will.  There’s currently a large storm raging in my life, and has been for years.  There doesn’t seem to be sunshine on the horizon any time soon.  Do I believe that God CAN calm the storm with a single word? Absolutely.  Has he so far?  No.  Is he still good?  Yes.

So how can I say that?  How can I say that he is still good when my child still has a chronic life altering illness that isn’t going away?  Because, he could heal my daughter and calm that storm.  Yet wouldn’t another storm just pop up somewhere else?  That’s the reality of living in a world that is fractured and broken with people that are fractured and broken.  There will always be pain.  No, instead of dealing with the storm that’s always changing, he is dealing with me.  He joins me in the boat and promises his presence in the midst of the pain.    

The question is, do I allow God’s presence to change my experience of the storm so that I am able to fully rest in his power?  Trusting in God’s power over creation, sickness, death, pain, and life can allow me to rest fully in his promise to protect me.  His ability to rest in the storm gives me confidence in his plan for that storm.  

What I do know, is that the smaller storms I weathered as a younger woman, have strengthened me and my dependence on God to weather this storm.  And what he is doing in this storm may just be what gets me through the next one.  

Here are some questions to prompt reflection as you walk through the message in this passage:

What storms are raging in your life now?

Do you pray for God to change your circumstances or to change you?

Do you only call out to the Lord as a last resort when you can’t fix it yourself?  

What storms has the Lord’s presence sustained you through in the past?

Father, thank you that through your Holy Spirit, you are present with us no matter what storms we face.  We thank you that you are powerful and have authority to change our circumstances.  We know you are good and that you care for us, please help us to trust you when we take our eyes off you and panic.  In Jesus’ name, Amen. 

*I want to thank the women of Coram Deo Church Bible study for the time and devotion they’ve put into workshopping these passages.  I’m always incredibly awestruck at how God can take the same passage or story and speak so individually through the Holy Spirit to teach and convict so personally.  Thank you for your wisdom and insights into these passages!