Trusting God When The Storms of Life Hit

"The Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.  But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, 'Lord, save me!'"  - Matthew 14: 29-30

In this section of Matthew chapter 14, Jesus has just performed one of his most famous miracles:  the feeding of the 5,000.  After this miracle, Jesus orders his disciples to get into a boat and go to the other side while he dismisses the 5,000.  After dismissing the 5,000, Jesus goes up to the mountainside to pray.  At around 3 in the morning, Jesus looks down and see his disciples in their boat but are struggling with a violent storm.  Jesus then proceeds to come down from the mountain and walk on the water to the disciples' boat.  When the disciples first see Him, they think He is a ghost.  When the disciples realize that it is Jesus, Peter asks Jesus for permission to walk on the water with Him.  Peter is doing just fine until the wind blows and Peter begins to sink and immediately calls out for Jesus to save him.

This story is one that we can easily apply to our lives, minus the fact that we can walk on water.  The first thing is the storm.  When Jesus put the disciples into the boat, they were probably not expecting to be hit with such a violent storm.  Storms can hit a persons life at any time.  If you're not currently going through a storm, you will soon.  They are inevitable.  They can cause us to panic and act in ways that we normally wouldn't act.  The second thing is that God is always willing to help.  He may not always help when we want Him to but his timing is always perfect.  Though the disciples were struggling with the storm for hours, Jesus did not intervene until later.  God is never late, and for that matter, He is never early.  He is always on time and He has a reason for His timing.  The ironic thing is that when Jesus does come to help, the disciples did not recognize Him.  They thought He was a ghost.  Sometimes when we are going through a tough time and we ask God for help,  he assists us in ways that we aren't always looking for.  The final point has to do with Peter.  When Peter steps out onto the water, he is actually walking on the water.  But when the wind blows, Peter starts to panic and his situation gets much worse until he cries out for Jesus to save him.  When we go through a storm, things may seem to be going okay but once we take our focus off of God, our situation gets worse.  God knows and understands that there are going to be plenty of hardships in your life and He wants to help you get through them.  But He is not going to force Himself into your life.  You have to be willing to submit your life to Him and cry out for help.

God doesn't cause the storms of life but he allows them to happen.  Sometimes we don't understand why God allows us to go through a tough time until after it is over and sometimes we never understand.  The important thing to remember is that God is always in control of everything.  Even in these times when the world seems to be in chaos, God is in control.  If you want His help, all you have to do is ask for it.