Living Through The Storm
The Gospel of John
Chapter 6
Scripture: John 6:20-21 (New Living Translation)
They were terrified, 20but he called out to them, "I am here! Don't be afraid." 21Then they were eager to let him in, and immediately the boat arrived at their destination!
Observation: This chapter is 71 verses long and it is full of great verses to choose from. The verses about eating the flesh of Jesus and drinking his blood are great to talk about in their significance as our provision of new life. I chose verses 20 and 21 however, because they immediately grabbed my thoughts. Here we find the disciples after an incredible time of ministry basically driving home, okay rowing home, they are I’m sure talking about all that had happened and all of a sudden they are in the middle of a storm. Now some of these men had spent their lives rowing on this lake and I am sure that they had encountered other storms, so for them to be afraid it must have been pretty bad. (“They were terrified.”) Without any warning Jesus is there walking on the water and calling out to them. I wonder if seeing and hearing Jesus didn’t at first scare them even more? He speaks to their fears and enters the boat with them and the storm is over and they are at their destination. It was like this was all pretty normal to Jesus, just a fitting ending to his day.
Application: This is so relevant to our lives. Think about it with me. How many times in our lives have we concluded an incredible growing time with God and suddenly we find ourselves under an incredible attack? We might have been here before but still we are terrified. It seems like everything is being hurled against us and we feel like Jesus isn’t even there. Suddenly the Holy Spirit brings “The Word” to us. At first we are taken back and we might even think, “Why didn’t I think of that sooner?” But Jesus is there, his presence is with us and we can eagerly invite him into our situation or foolishly continue to battle the storm on our own. If we invite Him into our boat (our situation, our battle) His presence will bring us peace. Jesus is the only one that knows the destination that the storm was intended to steer us toward. Now with him in our boat we arrive at the destination right on time.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, again I am praying for trust. I want to see you in every storm. I want to know that you are always walking toward the obstacles that come against me to destroy me. You are there to be with me in the storm to get me through to my destination. Help me to trust where the storm is taking me and to accept that my route has been chosen by Heavenly Father.
