You Have to Go Through the Storm
You have wondered “why” before. You know that thing you went through where someone lied behind your back or made a little thing blow up into a hairy green monster? Remember the health threats you have braved or the time you thought your world would totally crumble to nothing? If you haven’t been through any of those, bookmark this and come back when your storm hits.
No, I do not wish for these things to happen to people. I just know they have to happen. You cannot be a disciple of Jesus Christ without going through a storm. In fact, one could never be the Messiah without going through the storm. For us, it is level 2 training. It is your promotion—if you make it through.
The Other Side
The story driving my thoughts here is going to help you understand why we go through tough stuff. You see, Jesus and His devotees got into the boat on the Lake of Galilee. The Lord said, “Let us cross over to the other side.” (Mark 4:35).
That’s it. A trip to the “other side” doesn’t sound like much does it? It isn’t until the storm comes and tries to drown you. The winds came up and the boat was being bashed so hard they all thought they would die. They woke Jesus up from where He was sleeping soundly through the storm.
Sometimes it feels like Jesus is just sleeping through your storm. You feel like the whole thing is going to go under and there’s the Lord comfortably clutching His pillow. Of course you refuse to go through this alone, so you wake heaven and earth for fear of dying in your storm. I get that. We all go through those times. And then, faster than it started, the storm is over.
Why? What is the purpose of the storm?
To get to the other side. You see, Jesus was not just going to another little village similar to the one He just left. On the “other side” was a man tormented by demons. This guy lived in the tombs, tormented and out of his mind. He needed someone to come set him free.
Jesus and His followers could have stayed on the opposite shore where there was no risk. However, they braved the waters and faced the storm for one reason: someone on the other side needed them. That was the only purpose for risking their lives!
After Jesus delivered this prisoner of Satan and sent him home rejoicing and sharing the good news of what they Savior had done for him, they were done. He got back in the boat and they left. The only point of going through the storm was that someone on the other side needed them. (See the whole story at Mark 5:1-20.)
Why you must go through the storm
Do you realize that your storm was for the same reason? You don’t get sailing lessons in a storm. You do not learn a new level of daredevilry in a storm. You just survive it. Perhaps you never see a logical reason for what you went through or what that whole mess accomplished.
Be assured, the threats and perils you have gone through are not in vain. There is someone on the “other side”—someone different from you and maybe in a different context than you even understand. That person or those persons are waiting. They are in torment. You are the one to set them free if you will make it through the storm. Don’t give up. Don’t abandon ship. Stay the course; they have no hope if you do not bring them Jesus.
Are you in a storm right now? The only way the first disciples survived was for Jesus to speak to the winds and waves. Then everything became calm again. Through your storm, get close to Jesus. Just as happened then, so now the word of the Lord will bring peace. Open His Word and let Him speak into your situation. Maybe He just did.
5 Comments
Thank you Brother Koren!
My pleasure. It has been so great to meet you!
Brother a now Word for me, I needed it because too often I have felt Christ near but fail to call out to Him while in the midst of storms and I always felt that it is better to pray against them but I see that growth happens as we both go through them, like Winston Churchill quipped ” if you find yourself going through hell, just keep on going, and don’t stop.”
great job
You are very kind.