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Monday September 19, 2016

 

Two things- seeking pleasure and avoiding pain, these motivate most of our human behavior. We gravitate to the things that gratify us and resist those things that give us discomfort. Still, we know that it is through the painful discomfort of exercising that we grow stronger and healthier. It is in the uneasiness of long hours of work and sacrifice that we grow in talent and abilities. The same can be said of our faith. It is in the trials of life that God grows and strengthens our faith.

 

Jesus, upon hearing the awful news that his cousin John the Baptist was beheaded, He withdrew by boat to a solitary place. However, the crowds followed Him and when He saw them, He felt compassion for them. One by one, He began to heal the sick. As evening approached, the disciples asked Jesus to dismiss the crowds so that they could find something to eat. Jesus however responded by telling them, “they do not need to go away. You feed them.” All they could find was five loaves of bread and two fish, but there were five thousand men not counting the women and children. Jesus blessed and prayed for the food, and when it was all over, everyone ate and the disciples collected twelve baskets full of leftovers.

 

Matthew 14: 22 NIV

Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd.

 

Immediately following this miracle, Jesus MADE them get in a boat; little did they know they were about to sail into a major storm and they were going to be on their own. Just as the storm was at its peak, and just when the disciples thought they were about to die, Jesus appeared on the waters to rescue them. Then, those who were in the boat worshipped Him saying, “Truly you are the son of God.”

 

There are those that say the disciples should have never gotten into the boat without Jesus and so for this reason they experienced the horrible storm while others say the disciples were just being obedient to Jesus. Whichever the case, it is irrelevant. What matter is that after the storm, the disciples who had witnessed many miracles, for the first time and without prompting, they worshipped Jesus. It was not the miracles or the feeding of the five thousand that grew their faith. It was the painful discomfort of the storm where their faith grew. Their faith grew to the point that the disciples did not just praise Him; they worshipped Him.

 

Lessons from the Storm

Trials are not an indication of God’s absence; they are an indication that God is actively building our faith.