Master of the Storm - June 23, 2009

I was reading Psalm 107 this morning. Verses 25 – 30 talk about God making the sea stormy and then silencing it. These six verses remind me of Luke 8: 22 – 25.

Psalm 107: For He spoke and raised up a stormy wind,
Which lifted up the waves of the sea.
They rose up to the heavens, they went down to the depths;
Their soul melted away in their misery.
They reeled and staggered like a drunken man,
And were at their wits' end.
Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble,
And He brought them out of their distresses.
He caused the storm to be still,
So that the waves of the sea were hushed.
Then they were glad because they were quiet,
So He guided them to their desired haven.

Luke 8 One day Jesus said to his disciples, "Let's 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."

What a wonderful parallel. The Psalmist talks about how the seas became stormy and how the sailors were scared. How they cried out to God and he quieted the storm. The gospel of Luke accounts a similar story, only Jesus was right in the boat with them. His disciples were scared and woke him up. It says he rebuked the storm. How often do we find that our life is like that? We wake up and a storm is howling against us. We don’t know how we got in this situation or why everything is going wrong. But we do know that the only way through the storm is to cry out to Jesus. His words will make the storm die down. He will help us through and will help strengthen our faith. But we have to ask. So don’t be amazed that his voice commands the wind and sea. Be amazed that he can save your soul.