Sermon Essay Research Paper The Storms of

Sermon Essay, Research Paper

The Storms of Life: What’s He Doing.

There once was a man who dreamed he was at the end of his life. He saw his life as if it were a walk along a beach with Jesus. As he looked back over his life he saw two sets of footprints in the sand along most of the way – one set belonging to him, the other to Jesus. He noticed, though, that many times along the path of his life there was only one set of footprints in the sand. He also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times in his life.

This really bothered the man, and he questioned the Lord about it. “Lord, You said that You would never leave me nor forsake me. You said that once I decided to follow You, You’d walk with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the most difficult times in my life, there was only one set of footprints. I don’t understand why, when I needed You most, You would leave me.”

Jesus replied, “My son, I want you to know that I love you and that I would never leave you. Look again at those footprints. During your times of trouble and suffering, the footprints you saw were Mine. I was carrying you.”

Today’s Gospel reading shows us that the Lord is with us through times of trial… or when the storms of life get to be too much to handle. Whether He calms the storm as he did for the disciples, or asks us to let him walk through the storm with us, as Paul talks of in 2 Corinthians, or gives us the strength to fight against it, as He did for David while up against Goliath; he is always with us. He does not ignore the cry of the afflicted.

Jesus Calms the Storm

Imagine with me for a moment you’re living during the time of Jesus. You’re a disciple and you’re getting into a boat with Jesus to cross this huge lake. My guess is that the boats were probably nothing like we have today. The boat by itself was a lot less trustworthy, I’m assuming. All of the sudden this storm creeps up on you and your little boat is getting tossed around like a rubber ducky in a bathtub. You look to your leader and what is he doing. Sleeping. I don’t know about you, but I think I’d be a bit frightened. So, one of your fellow… and very brave… disciples wakes up Jesus and says, “Um Teacher, do you not care if we drown.” Jesus gets up, rebukes the wind and says to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind dies down and everything is completely calm.

In the Old Testament, raging waters were a symbol for chaos and ominous power. In Psalm 89 the Psalmist confirms that God rules over the sea and that when the waves mount up (or present danger and chaos) God stills them.

What is it that most of us do in the face of chaos in our lives. I will venture to guess that we try to fix the problem all by ourselves. Sure maybe we can manage for a while, but ultimately it doesn’t fix anything. When the disciples were facing the raging waters of that sea, did they try to navigate on their own and just let Jesus sleep. No! The immediate response was to wake Jesus up and say, “Help us, Teacher! Do you not care if we drown.” Now, Jesus responded by calming the storm, yet then he said to them, “Why are you so afraid. Do you still have no faith.” Let’s look at this for a minute: disciples had little faith, yet Jesus still calmed the storm. The disciples had little faith, yet Jesus still calmed the storm. I am not suggesting that we should settle for having little faith, but it sure is comforting to know that even when our faith isn’t up to speed with the Lord, He still calms the storms. As we stated in our call to worship from Psalm 9; He does not ignore the cry of the afflicted.

Okay, so maybe you’re thinking: Sure, the Lord calms the storms of life… then how come it seems like He’s sleeping during this storm I’m going through right now. Many times in the Bible we see that the Lord does walk with us. The first indication of this that comes to my mind is in Psalm 23, David writes, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” As indicated in 2 Cor. 6, it’s a fact of life that things are going to happen to us that are uncomfortable, chaotic, and that give us a feeling of hopelessness. Paul refers to some very specific things and I think we can all find one or two that we can personally relate to. He mentions troubles, hardships, distresses, beatings, imprisonments, riots, hard labor, sleepless nights, hunger, dishonor, sorrowful feelings and so on. Sometimes God just allows us to go through these things. But there is a promise that we receive that says that He will be with us through those times. Prior to this list Paul quotes from Isaiah saying, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” Paul follows this by saying, “I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.” He’s saying that God is here to help us now. Maybe He didn’t calm that storm that you went through last week. But He sure was there to be the rod and the staff of comfort. I’m sure that many of us are able to look back on our lives and see those specific times when the Lord was with us. Sometimes that’s just the way that it works, it may seem like the Lord is sleeping in His boat; but truthfully He is right there beside us or carrying us through.

I know of a Christian woman who went through 2 and a