“Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed.”

Psalm 107:28,29

 

As we were all preparing for the weekend snowstorm, I thought I would look at the book of Psalms and see what the psalmist may have said concerning storms. On reading the above Psalm, I immediately thought about the book of Matthew when Jesus in a boat with his disciples, also endured a powerful storm.

The account is found in Matthew chapter seven:

And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves, but he was asleep. And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even the winds and sea obey him?

Mt. 7:23-27

Comparing Psalm 107, with Matthew seven, we see people caught in a storm. Both storms are powerful enough to cause great distress and fear. Whenever there is a potentially large storm, the media seems to enjoy their coverage, often exaggerating the magnitude, and other times not really knowing the extent of damage that may or may not come because of the storm. Often, people become very concerned or afraid.

The disciples like those in the Psalm are also afraid. Jesus acknowledges this with his question: “Why are you afraid?” Then as he often does, Jesus calms the winds and the sea. The storm is quickly over. The Psalmist also reports that the “waves of the sea were hushed or silenced.” Psalm 107:29

We have all lived through many natural storms, but if we live on earth, we also must endure many kinds of storms. It’s not all about the weather, is it? Regardless of the storm, weather or sickness, weather or famine, weather or even death, the Bible assures us of ultimate deliverance. The parallels in these passages are clear. There are many storms in life. What will we do when in our storm?

Will we trust God? Will our faith get us through? Jesus challenged the faith of the disciples. You can almost hear him saying; “Guys, did you forget why I am here? Don’t you remember the mission of messiah? Do you think I’m going to drown with all of you in this boat today? “Where is your faith?” When the storms of life come upon us, where will our faith be placed?

Pastor John