Know Your Storm

The other day when I was praying with some women of faith for our children, God gave me a picture of the youth in a boat being tossed around in a storm and whereas I wanted to pray (like any protective mother would) for the storm to calm and for them to be safe, God showed me Jesus walking to them on water and then calling them out of the boat to join Him. He was saying that although their current surroundings are hostile, He has created them for such a time as this; He has called them not to fear the storm of their culture and environment, but conquer it – to walk on water through wild wind and waves.

Over the next few days I felt an invitation to explore this picture some more, so I opened my Bible programme to find the accounts of both times Jesus encountered storms at sea…
The first storm is the one that arose while Jesus was asleep in the boat with the disciples, and where they woke Him in terror and He rebuked it to instant stillness. It’s recorded in Matthew 8:23-27, Mark 4:35-41, and Luke 8:22-25.
The second storm is found in Matthew 14:22-34, Mark 6:45-53, and John 6:15-21. In this instance Jesus had sent the disciples ahead in the boat and they found themselves fighting an intense storm. Jesus walked on water to where they were, and then Matthew’s account tells us that Peter joined Him on the water briefly, before they both got into the boat and the storm ceased.
I started digging deeper into the six passages in different versions plus Strong’s concordance. And what I found that I had never clearly seen before, was that the two storms were dealt with very differently – because they had different causes.

The first point of note is that both storms were seismos-storms – seismos meaning a violent storm, commotion or shaking, such as those caused by an earthquake. Seismos-storms leave us feeling utterly shaken and overwhelmed – not just the literal, physical storms, but also every emotional and mental turmoil that we go through in life too. Let’s face it, the whole world is being violently shaken by the global storm of Covid right now! Storms come to us all – so we need to know how to deal with them.

The first storm that Jesus and His disciples encountered was simply demonic, ie from the enemy. We can tell this because Jesus took authority over it and rebuked it – the word for rebuke being the same word as the one used to cast out demons elsewhere in the Gospels. In our lives we face many storms that threaten to overwhelm us, even when we are simply obeying and following Jesus, as the disciples were (following Jesus does not guarantee us a storm-free existence!) But because we are in Christ, we also have His authority to rebuke every storm sent by the enemy.

So far so good – this was turning into a nice encouraging study. But then I read something that stopped me in my tracks. A note in the Passion Translation under Mark 4:39 states that ‘Jesus would not have rebuked the storm if it was from God’. This interrupted my train of thought and got my attention: the thought that such a storm could have been from God!? And that thought became even more significant when I turned to the second storm of the Gospels – because what I found was that this one was sent by God.
The first clue was another note in the Passion Translation, this time under John 6:18, saying “a strong wind began to blow” can also be translated as ‘the Spirit stirred it up on their behalf’. Now God really had my attention! I’m not one to take someone else’s word for it without question (unless that someone is Jesus, and even then, I tend to ask Him a lot of questions). I wondered why the Spirit would stir up a storm, and how could it possibly be seen as being ‘on their behalf’? So I went back through the different accounts to see if I could find evidence to back up this theory that it was a storm sent from God. It turned out there was plenty…

• There was a hint in Matt 14:22, where Jesus sent the disciples ahead. Sometimes obedience sends us into storms. Did Jesus know a storm was coming? I don’t know, but I’m sure the Father did – and still they were sent on their own into it.
• In v24 we read the ship was tossed with waves for the wind was contrary – the word for ‘tossed’ is basanizo, which means to be buffeted, straining, vexed, tormented, distressed. Most properly, it means to test the purity of a metal by rubbing it against a touchstone. Even if it is a step too far for your theology to believe that God sends distressing or tormenting tests and trials, we do know that He allows them (as Job shows us). And if we look at the description of the wind being ‘contrary’, the word used is enantios, meaning opposing, or set against. But why would God test us by sending us on a mission and then opposing it?
• Let’s consider Jesus’ actions as described in Mk 6:48, where He started to pass by them. Why would He do that? We know that He had seen them straining at the oars (presumably in a vision, because He was still on land while they were miles away in the middle of the sea on a dark and stormy night), and although He walked out to where they were, most versions say He intended to walk right past them, even knowing they were struggling. The Amplified version helps here, saying He “[acted as if] He intended to pass by them“. Again, why would He do that? I like what HELPS Word-Studies note against the word “would” – as in “would have passed them by”. It says this word for would (thelo) means ‘to want what is best because someone is ready and willing to act’, and that it is ‘commonly used of the Lord extending His “best-offer” to the believer – wanting to birth His persuasion (faith) in them which also empowers, manifests His presence etc’
  So yes Jesus had seen them struggling on the sea, but He didn’t rebuke the storm. Neither did He immediately jump in to save – no, He treated it as a learning opportunity. First of all He demonstrated a faith-response to them, showing them that opposing and overwhelming circumstances have no power over us to stop God’s will – that we have dominion over every natural circumstance. He was showing them that if He could walk on water through such a storm, they could certainly sail/ row through it, to get to where they were going.
  Of course, these dear men had been fighting (in their own strength – selah) a losing battle for nine hours. And when they saw what looked like an apparition they took it to mean impending doom. And I love what happened next: even though they failed to follow Jesus’ example of faith (after Peter at least gave it a go), He didn’t walk off and leave them as failures – no, He immediately called out to them, speaking courage into their hearts and announcing that He – the great I AM was present with them to save. How lovely He is – how good and patient with our weakness and failures!
• As soon as Jesus stepped into the boat, the storm ceased (Matt 14:32). In fact, John 6:21 tells us that not only did the storm cease, but they miraculously arrived at their destination! There was no rebuking necessary. The storm had done what it was intended for – it had revealed the state of their hearts; their faith. So if demonic storms are dealt with simply by rebuking, what do we do with God-ordained storms?
• Mark 6:52 says it most clearly. With the storm now passed, the disciples were overwhelmed, because “they had not learned what they should have learned from the loaves because their hearts were hard” (NLV) – or as the Amplified version puts it, “because they had not understood [the miracle of] the loaves [how it revealed the power and deity of Jesus]; but [in fact] their heart was hardened [being oblivious and indifferent to His amazing works]”
  The disciples had literally just come from a learning opportunity – they were not only witnesses but personally involved in the feeding of the five thousand. They had not just seen a miracle but been personally involved in its outworking as they handed out the single packed lunch of bread and fish to multiple thousands of hungry people – and then gathered with their own hands the twelve baskets of leftovers after Jesus revealed His omnipotence and dominion over natural circumstances. The intended lesson had not actually been “ooh, Jesus can make food go a long way”, but “Jesus has authority over every situation, and when we co-labour with Him, so do we!” But they missed it because of the hardness of their hearts. They left that astounding miracle, and got straight into a boat – but somehow left the miracle behind. And when a new set of difficult circumstances arose, it becomes clear that they just failed the application test.
  Why would God send a storm to buffet and oppose us when we are only trying to obey His commands? To reveal the state or our hearts, and expose our faith (or lack of it), that we might learn and keep learning. Like any good teacher, He doesn’t just want to fill our heads with theory or amaze us with displays of His power – He wants us to learn how to put those lessons into practice and apply His principles to our lives. He uses tests – even painful ones and ones that seem to oppose His will for our lives – that we might learn from them.
  The disciples failed this test. They proved by their actions that although they marvelled at the feeding of the five thousand, they failed to receive (and apply) the full revelation of Who Jesus was and what authority they had in His Name. But in failing it, they learned some more. Jesus didn’t leave them in their failure, He rescued them out of it, to live and learn and be tested again another day – on multiple occasions. And we know that eventually they did pass some tests, because (apart from Judas) they went on to change the world in the power and authority of Jesus’ Name – to work miracles and advance His Kingdom.

So how do we respond when storms hit?

So much depends on the kind of storm and where it’s from. Sometimes they are sent from the enemy to distract and destroy, and we just need to take authority and command them to cease.

But sometimes they are sent – or at least allowed – as trials and tests to expose our faith (or lack of) for our own sakes. Sometimes the solution to a storm that can’t be rebuked away is to receive it as a test – to ask Jesus how to apply what He has been revealing lately – to learn. Personally I believe much of Covid has been a test. Not because God didn’t already know what was in our hearts, but because we didn’t. We thought we knew all about prayer, power and the presence of God. But Covid revealed that actually the Western Church has been lazy, lukewarm, and self-indulgent. And now that – like the disciples in the boat – we have seen the true state of our hearts, we are in a much better (hopefully more humble) place to receive God’s instruction and His solution.

And sometimes the key is to press on despite the storm. Just as Jesus set the example of walking on water through the midst of a violently buffeting storm, so we have the authority to deny the storm’s power to overwhelm, and carry on regardless. If our current storm cannot be rebuked away, perhaps the lesson is simply to take our eyes off it. Peter showed us how to ask Jesus for the first step; then we need to remain undistracted by the hostile environment, and to fix our eyes on Jesus and keep doing what He has asked us to do, trusting that He will bring to completion the work He has started in us.

The key appears to be, when dealing with a storm, to know the kind of storm it is. But take heart: even if we are struggling to identify it, as long as we remember that the enemy has no authority over us, as long as we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, and our hearts humble and teachable before Him, one way or another He will keep us through the storm – and who knows, maybe we’ll even learn how to walk on those stormy waters with Him!