In my bible, the title of this section is “Peace, be still” – how sweet. A lovely, wonderful, happy title. It should be titled “Buckle up and hold on for dear life and bring a change of underwear!” Verse 35 begins “And the same day, when the evening was come, He said to them… Let us pass over to the other side.” In geometry there is a theorem that states – the shortest distance between two points, A and B, is a straight line. Now, that doesn’t mean the easiest way to get from A to B is a straight line. What if there is an obstacle, a problem, a storm? Sometimes it is easier for me to go around the obstacle. If I travel a straight line, I run into it and have to overcome the problem.
It’s interesting that Jesus said to the people following Him, “Let’s go over THERE.” He says that to you – Hey, let’s go over there. Sometimes your mission, your ministry, your calling, your purpose, your destiny, your goals, your healing are all “over there.” At first this sounds exciting! Yay! Road trip! As a kid did your parents ever say get in the car, we’re going somewhere? But when you would ask where you were going they would say, “You’ll see when we get there.” Their answer was “Over there.” It may have meant a wonderful surprise, like going to get an ice cream… OR… your parents were tricking you into going to a horrible place, like the dentist! Oh, don’t get me wrong, I like dentists… sorta. When Jesus says to you, “Let’s go over there” it might be exciting or it might be scary. “Trust Me.”
God says that all things work together for your good so we know that He is leading us somewhere toward our destiny, even if we aren’t sure where that will end up. We start moving from point A to point B, but then run into an obstacle. When the disciples started on their trip the Bible says “there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.” What is your storm? Your obstacle? What happens when you run into a problem? Have you had direction from God, a vision, a dream, a calling and the first obstacle, the first storm that popped up, you stopped dead in your tracks? Maybe you had a dream of feeding the hungry by opening a soup kitchen, and the first thing that popped into your mind was “I don’t have any money to do that.” End of journey. Jesus said “Let’s go over there” and you said “But I can’t. There’s a storm.” Or maybe, you started your journey and during the trip a great storm of wind arose and started sinking your ship. I experienced this after the first year of starting the children’s charity Isaac’s Friends. God opened doors immediately to get the charity going. We had great success and helped a lot of children. But then, the need for money grew and the supply shrank... drastically. No one was donating, no one was sponsoring, no one was granting. I had second thoughts about the charity, even wondering if I was supposed to start it in the first place. Maybe I didn’t hear God right or maybe I wasn’t the right person. Every time I prayed about it, God would remind me very clearly that He had shown me that particular need and given me a vision of how to help people. He had definitely asked me to start it, but had not once asked me to stop. I am so thankful that I stayed in the boat and didn’t turn around and give up. Isaac’s Friends is still serving children and their families and headed toward a new season of growth.
There is another interesting part of this story that tells us an important aspect of our calling. Verse36 - “And there were also with him other little ships” – these are the benefactors of your ministry, your calling, your dream. These might be the hungry, the lonely, the sick, the lost – they might be your wife or husband or children or the people you work with. When you give up on your journey, the benefits of your God-given purpose for others are lost as well. Don’t give up on your family just because the storm is rough or because the obstacle is great. Don’t give up on the lost and needy because it’s hard. Keep going forward – walk by faith. Jesus is right there in the boat with you. “Trust Me,” He says.
George Herbert expresses it:
When winds and waves assault my keel,
He doth preserve it, he doth steer,
Ev'n when the boat seems most to reel.
Storms are the triumph of his art;
Though he may close his eyes, yet not his heart.
No comments:
Post a Comment