The Storms of Life

I'm not sure why but I find myself coming back to this same story. I guess I'm drawn to the example it has about life and the different types of storms God takes us through on our journey.

I remember waking up one morning, just a little kid living with my mom and dad and two brothers, one older and one younger. I didn't ask to be here … I just was. I had no choice in the matter. I don't know how old I was, maybe around four years of age. It really doesn't matter … God gave me my life, placed me in this family and now I was going to have to deal with it.

I also remember crying the night dad came into my bedroom and told me that my mom would not be coming back home. She had been sick. That night a little four year old boy learned a life lesson … death hurts … and it leaves a huge hole in the middle of your heart. I've also learned since that only Jesus can fill it.

Many others have also experienced this same hurt … the death of a child, a husband or wife. Perhaps it was a close friend like Jesus lost.

Through the years I've tried to understand why Jesus wept and even groaned in His spirit just before He raised His friend Lazarus from the dead. I think I know and understand now. He hurt just like that little four year old boy did when his mom died. Jesus felt what I felt … death hurts.

Death seems so final on this side of the grave.

No one died the evening Jesus sent His disciples to sea knowing He was sending them … out into the storm … for another life lesson. A brief miracle of sorts was going to take place on this dark and stormy night. And as far as I know, it never happened again.

Peter walked on water.

You remember the story in Matthew 14:22-33 … Peter sees Jesus walking past them on the water, right in the middle of the storm, where He sent them, and Peter asks Jesus if he can do the same thing.

Is there a life lesson here? Yes there is … one most people don't want to hear about.

It's that God also arranges for us to encounter the storms of life just as His disciples did. And when we are out on that stormy sea, if we start to sink and cry out to Jesus as Peter did … Lord save us … you may hear the very same thing Peter heard. "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?"

The word doubt used here is "distazo" and it means … to duplicate or think twice, to waver mentally.

Peter was walking on the water just fine until he started looking around. "But when he saw the wind …"

How did Peter see the wind? He didn't. The word saw is "blep'o" and means "to become aware" … in this case, aware of the waves the wind was making; which by the way had nothing to do with being able to walk on water. They were not giving him buoyancy; they were not holding him up. They were in fact a distraction that caused him to take his eyes off Jesus … where the miracle power really came from. The power came from God, but the faith or lack of it was all Peter's … proven by the fact that Jesus didn't sink, Peter did.

What if the storm was but a test, (as it is many times with us) a life lesson to show Peter how much real faith he had. This was not just supposition. Peter had real faith or he couldn't have walked on water. It was Peter's trust in Jesus that allowed him to believe that if his Lord told him, "Come, step out of the boat and … do what I'm doing … walking on water," he believed he could. Peter believed Jesus would never tell him to do something he couldn't do, so without thinking twice, he just went for it by faith.

Stepping out of the boat was not what got him in trouble. It was simply this … after receiving the Word from the Lord, "Come, walk with me," and after acting on it, Peter had a "distazo" moment. He wavered mentally and thought twice about where he was and what he was doing … but only after he was walking on water.

So what if it was contrary to the laws of nature. Was he not doing what his Lord had given him permission to accomplish? Did you notice the words Jesus later used to describe Peter? "O you of little faith." It sounds like Jesus was also describing me.

The two words little faith is "oligopistos" meaning incredulous … something you are not naturally disposed to. This word oligopistos comes from the Greek word "oligos" meaning … puny or brief.

Let me run this through my mind again. Jesus tells Peter, "Come on" and he walks on water. Peter looks around, sees that he is doing … the impossible … and sinks. That pretty much covers it, proving he's just like us.

But I also see something a lot of believers don't. This life lesson is not about "great faith." It's about … "puny, brief faith." It's the kind I have most of the time. Isn't that what Jesus told Peter he had. And is it not true that he had enough of this puny, brief faith to walk on water? But I still can't; at least I never have yet.

If the Greek rendering of "little faith" is right, and I believe it is; it also says that we are not naturally disposed to even this puny faith. I'm not speaking of doubt and unbelief which is opposed to faith. The word doubt in the question Jesus asked Peter is really not the right translation of the word. Remember it's "distazo" meaning to think twice, to waver.

When you ask something of the Lord … I'm thinking of Mark 4:14-15 … "The sower soweth the word. And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; (along the path of life) but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts."

When you ask something of the Lord … and He answers you with a word sown in your heart or the answer comes as seed from the Word of God, either way … Satan comes immediately to steal that word from you. The word heart used here is "kardia" which means … thoughts or feelings of the mind … in other words, where you might be tempted to think twice. It is not speaking of your inner spirit.

When you ask something of the Lord … the first answer, the first word you receive will be from the Lord. The second word or thought that makes you "think twice" will be Satan trying to take away the word from God that was sown in your heart and replace it with a lie or half truth. Again, it's in your thoughts, your mind.

So how does he do it? With a "distazo" moment … he causes you to "think twice" and you waver. Satan wants you to take your eyes off Jesus and see only the storm around you exactly as Peter did. If Satan can just get you to look around, "to become aware" of the distractions that usually come with the storm, then your faith will be brief … it may be true faith … but like Peter's, it won't last; you won't be able to continue to walk on water, so to speak.

If Satan can't stop you from stepping out of the boat, he will try to make your walking on water … brief. Use each of the storms of life to learn and grow in faith. They are from God you know. Most miracles happen in the midst of the storm.

The verse … "The joy of the Lord is my strength," really means …

"What gives the Lord joy … is my strength in the storm."


Comments welcome.