Sometimes you can see the storm coming. You can see it building. The closer it gets, the more severe you see it is. You begin to wonder, can I make it. Where is my closest shelter. The storm is so large you can't see the other side, darkness is closing in all around. You can't see any turn offs ahead, and you feel so... alone. Your heart sinks as the storm encompasses everything around you. You feel great fear and lose your sense of direction. Just when you thing the storm is calming, it gets worse, and you then lose all hope. Your demeanor changes, your heart sinks, and a tear falls. You saw the storm coming, did everything you could do to try and prepare, and here it is raging on and worse than you could have ever imagined. Your head bows as you think to yourself, "I can't do this".
22 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. 23 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.
24 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. 25 “Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples. (Lk 8:22-25., NIV)
The very moment you utter the words or even think the words "I can't do this", Jesus asks the very same question, "Where is your faith?"
Storms in life are something else. If we are honest with one another, we would all just soon not have them. I am here with you on that one. Reality is though they are. Sometimes we can see them coming. Through all the preparation in the world sometimes we can prepare for them and sometimes we can't. Some storms come out of no where, and you have no time or wherewithal to prepare.
It is during these times that we have to ask ourselves, as Jesus would, where is our faith. Some storms will push our faith to it's absolute limits. We find ourselves trying to figure out what am I supposed to learn from this, how am I supposed to grow from this, or what is the purpose.
We usually try to blame God for the storms in our life. Reality is God is usually trying to clean up man made storms, whether they are faults of our own or created by someone else around us. God has a way of making a way through them to which He and only He gets the glory through it.
In the middle of the storm when things where at their worst the disciples panicked. We think to ourselves, what?? the disciples panicked? How is that even possible. It's possible because they where pushed to the limits of their faith. They thought they where strong, they thought they could handle it, after all they had been through storms before. However, this one was different. It was stronger and longer than any storm they had dealt with before, so they panicked. Give them credit though, in their panic at least they knew where to go to.
I understand how the disciples felt. I did what Jesus said, I got in the boat and left and now I'm in a storm. I have seen many, and survived every one. This one is different. It's darker, more severe, and never ending. I hear Jesus saying to me, "where is your faith". I am trying I really am Lord, but I still feel like I'm drowning in this storm...
He says again, "Where is your faith?"
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