Of storms in life

Yesterday, I (Stuart) was given the responsibility of speaking in Chitokoloki’s church meeting. My journey to Lusaka last week had given some opportunity for thought and I decided to speak on a short story from the life of Jesus that the gospel writers of Matthew, Mark and Luke all record.  It was read from Mark chapter 4, verses 35-41 (link here.) In this story, Jesus falls asleep after an exhausting day, while sailing across Lake Galilee in one of his disciples’ boats. A furious storm descends on the travelling party and soon the boat is taking in more water than the disciples can bail out. The disciples fear for their lives and can’t quite believe that Jesus remains sleeping.  They wake him saying, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?!”  

Jesus steadies himself against the boat, and rebukes the wind and the waves, “Quiet! Be still.” It was as if the wind and the waves were a fierce dog barking at strangers, then the owner turns up, rebukes the dog and it is suddenly cowed and silent. The storm immediately responds and a great calm descends. The disciples could not believe what they had just seen and started to wonder even more who Jesus really was.

I suggested to the congregation that there were three lessons that could be drawn from the story:

• Storms in life are indiscriminate – regardless of how good we are, or whether we have faith, we are likely to face unexpected difficulties or hardships.  Jesus told a story about two house builders – one who built his house’s foundations by cutting deep into rock, and another who built his house with superficial foundations in sandy soil. Both houses were hit by rain and wind.  His illustration was of those who listened to his words and obeyed, versus those who listened and then disobeyed. Both the obedient and the disobedient were hit with difficulty.  The difference was the preparations made before these challenges, resulting in an intact house for the obedient and diligent house builder who had dug into rock, and a house collapse for the foolish builder who made careless preparations on sandy soil.

• This brings us to another lesson about storms in life – that they are revealing.  We can look for our sense of security in various places.  Sometimes it takes trouble to reveal where those sources are.  Is our ultimate faith in society?  Science?  Family and friends?  Or perhaps in ourselves?  We can be very confident in our own qualities, training or abilities.  The circumstances of life can reveal that these are very shaky grounds for building your security on. There is only one safe and secure foundation in life, and that is faith in Jesus Christ.

• The last lesson about storms in life was that they are refining. The disciples learnt more from this frightening experience than in many normal days. God doesn’t encourage us to seek out danger and difficulty, but there is also a sense in which we learn and develop most when we face challenge.  Hebrews 12 verses 7 and 11: “Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children... No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”

I finished with the quote below from John Ortberg:

I love this story.  I can very much relate to the disciples’ fear, uncertainty, and lack of faith. Although their faith may have been limited, it was in the right place. Their strong foundation of faith and obedience to God would see them through all kinds of trials.  This foundation has proved strong and enduring in my own life. To take hold of an identity as a child of God is to take hold of security, safety and acceptance that cannot be shaken by any circumstance. It was a privilege to talk about these truths at our church meeting.  My ‘day job’ is looking after people’s bodies, but of course human beings are integrated wholes – body, mind and soul. It is good to also spend some time more directly addressing the needs for spiritual truth that we all have.