Luke 8:22-25 – “One day Jesus
said to his disciples, “Let us go over
to the other side of the lake.” So they got
into a boat and set out. As they sailed, he
fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being
swamped, and they were in great danger. The disciples went and woke him,
saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!” He got up and rebuked the wind
and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. “Where is your faith?” he asked his
disciples. In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this? He
commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.”
Acts 27:12-25 – “When a gentle
south wind began to blow, they saw their opportunity; so they weighed anchor
and sailed along the shore of Crete. Before very long, a wind of hurricane force, called the Northeaster,
swept down from the island. The ship was caught by the
storm and could not head into the wind; so we gave way to it and were driven
along. As we passed to the lee of a small island called
Cauda, we were hardly able to make the lifeboat secure, so the men hoisted it aboard. Then they passed ropes under the ship
itself to hold it together. Because they were afraid they would run aground on
the sandbars of Syrtis, they lowered the sea anchor and let the ship be driven
along. We took such a violent battering from the storm
that the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard. On the third day, they threw the ship’s tackle overboard with their
own hands. When neither sun nor stars appeared for many
days and the storm continued raging, we finally gave up all hope of being
saved.
After they had gone a long time without
food, Paul stood up before them and said: “Men, you should have taken my advice
not to sail from Crete; then you would have spared yourselves this damage and
loss.
But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of
you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed. Last
night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me
and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before
Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.’
So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it
will happen just as he told me."
"There is one crucial difference in these stories; In Acts, God
doesn’t put an end to the storm, in fact, the storm rages until the ship is
utterly destroyed. The point of this is that God does not always work the same
way to protect and provide for His people. Sometimes he calms the storm, and at
other times He changes the circumstances. Sometimes things work out well…and at
other times things just seem to get worse! In one case God simply ended the
storm. In the other case God brought them through the storm. Which is better?
We really don’t know. Only God knows what is best for us. But, remember this,
there will be times when God will calm the storm and give us peace, and, there
will be times when He expects us to ride out the storm, knowing that He will
bring us safely home even if we have to swim all the way holding on to a broken
piece of wood. I have had to do that, but God always brought me through and
provided my needs and prepared my faith for the next storm."
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