At some point in each of our lives, we are all going to encounter storms. Some storms we make ourselves, and some the Lord puts in our way to see how much we trust him. In Matthew 14, we see Peter walking out to Jesus, only to encounter a storm of his own.
28And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.
29And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.
30But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.
31And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?
First I want to look at v. 29- Jesus called Peter. Jesus has called all of us to Himself and if we are saved, we are walking toward him, just as Peter did…
Next, I want to look at v. 30- the wind boisterous, Peter’s fear, and Peter sinking. We have all been in a place of our own “wind boisterous”. No doubt we have all been afraid, and sank. The reason Peter sank is because he took his eyes off Jesus.
Lastly, I want to look at v. 31- immediately, Jesus caught him. Peter put his eyes back on Jesus and Jesus rescued him from the storm. When Peter realized he needed Jesus, he was safe again.
In the past few years of my own life, there are a lot of “storms” that have come my way. Here are some verses to battle those storms with.
Storms of Discouragement…Deut. 31:6 “Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.”
*God is always with us, even when we feel like nothing is going right and everything is messed up. This verse says to be strong and have courage- if God says it, it is possible!
Storms of Hurt…Psalm 55:22 Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee.
*There will always be times in our lives that are hurtful. The Lord knows your hurts before they happen, he knows why they happen, and he knows how to fix them. Instead of fixing them yourselves, give them to Jesus and let him handle them.
Storms of Worry…Matthew 6:25Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
26Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
27Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
*Jesus feeds the birds, and clothes the lilies, we are much more important to him than those. Jesus has our best interest, our needs, wants, concerns, at the front of his mind. Worry never promises any results, but prayer can change things.
Storms of Sin… Psalm 15:1 LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill?
2 He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart
3 and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his fellow man,
4 who despises a vile man but honors those who fear the LORD, who keeps his oath even when it hurts,
5 who lends his money without usury and does not accept a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken.
*God calls us to be righteous; Psalm 55 gives us some specific ways to be more like Christ. We all have improvements to make and areas to work on but our goal should be to honor the Lord in all that we do and live in a way that God gets the glory from our lives.
All of these things, and many others, can be our “wind boisterous” and cause us to get our eyes to get off Jesus. I want to encourage you to keep focused on the Lord and whatever your storm may be, know that Jesus is waiting on the other side of it to rescue you. As we start a new school year, new jobs, new activities, don’t get weighed down with any sin or distraction. Keep your life balanced, keep Jesus as your priority and focus.
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