Your Focus in the Time of Storm
As I flip through the song book and think about the hymns I grew up on, as well as songs that I’ve learned since then, I’ve noticed that there are a lot of songs about storms. There is Shelter in the Storm written by Vernon Charlesworth in the 1880s that declares “Jesus is a rock in a weary land...a shelter in the time of storm.” Even songs that kids sing at VBS, chapel, and children’s Bible hours have words like “with Christ as my vessel I can smile at the storm” and “the rains came down as the floods came up.”
Some, like the very slow and serious Rock of Ages boast of the comfort found in difficult times. Legend states that it was written by Augustus Toplady in 1762 as he sheltered under a rock outcropping during a storm. Others simply declare the hopelessness of the situation we often find ourselves in and a plea to the Lord for comfort. Till the Storm Passes By declares, “In the dark of the midnight have I oft hid my face, while the storm howls above me, and there’s no hiding place. ‘Mid the crash of the thunder, precious Lord, hear my cry; keep me safe ’til the storm passes by” (Mosie Lister, 1958).
The common denominator of these beautiful and inspiring songs is two fold: the fear of the storms we often find ourselves in and the One who is capable of rescuing us. No single section of Scripture seems to illustrate that that thought better than Mark 4:35-5:20. Within those few verses there is the story where the disciples find themselves fighting a storm on the sea as Jesus sleeps in the stern of the ship. Upon being awakened by the panicked disciples, Jesus rebuked the wind and quieted the sea. In doing so, he grabbed the attention of his shocked disciples.
While it has been placed on the other side of the chapter break, Mark appears to further solidify the truth that Jesus has the ability to calm storms by telling what happened when they arrived on the other side of the sea. Jesus is greeted by a man with “an unclean spirit.” He lived among the tombs. People had attempted to help him. They had resorted to binding and chaining him, but even that was unsuccessful as his power was such that he would simply break the chains. He was a raging storm--to the people as well as in his own mind.
The disciples could not calm the storm on the sea. The man, and the people of the town could not calm the storm in this man’s life. Jesus, however, had the ability to calm them both. And He is still calming storms.
Storms in our personal lives.
Storms in relationships.
Storms in our world.
The key: we have to approach him. The disciples woke him and the man in the tombs met him at the shore. They didn’t know his full power before the event but they came in faith knowing that He could at least do something.
Angela Duckworth states in the book, Grit, “It isn’t suffering that leads to hopelessness. It’s suffering you think you can’t control.” The situations in these stories could have easily lead to hopelessness. Yet, they decided that there was rescue in Jesus. There are many areas of life that grit and determination will help us get through storms and difficulties on our own. But the way that Jesus offers often eases the struggles. He offers to help carry share the burden with those who will approach Him (Matthew 11:28-29).
There is one storm, however, that only Jesus can calm. It is the storm of sin in your life. There is no other name that can save man (Acts 4:12) and there is no other way to the Father (John 14:6) than Jesus. So regardless of the struggle, with Christ as my vessel, I can smile at the storm.
Ben