And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.
—Matthew 8:24-26
Two days ago, we looked at this event in the book of Mark. This time we look at it in another light in the book of Matthew.
What was the disciples’ reaction to the storm that suddenly came against them on the Sea of Galilee? They felt the wind and the waves. They saw the boat was in danger of sinking. And there was Jesus! He was sleeping when everything looked like death. They were consumed with fear. Shouting their fears above the tumult, they woke Jesus up. Jesus’ response to the storm was to rebuke the winds and the waves. There came a great calm and in that calm was peace.
Just as the disciples experienced, the uncertainties of something unfamiliar or unexpected can cause us to only consider what we see. We may even focus on all the bad potential outcomes. Our doubts soon become an obsession that permeates our emotions, and our fear overflows into the words we speak.
The words we speak are powerful. The disciples spoke fear. But Jesus spoke peace. We must choose to speak life into our circumstances because the words we speak are life or death (Proverbs 18:21).
If we think the worst, we prepare ourselves to receive the worst. When we declare our fears, doubts, and uncertainties, we speak exactly what the enemy wants to hear. When we don’t feel peace, the enemy immediately plays it to his advantage. He acts quickly to make sure we continue to believe our issues are bigger than God.
Look at the disciples. They were fixated on the storm, and they were convinced they would die. They were in total panic while Jesus was peacefully sleeping.
Peace is not an emotion. It is not something you feel. Peace is a person you know in your heart. His name is Jesus. You don’t have to feel peace (and often you don’t) before you speak the victory that is yours in Jesus. Instead, you must remain confident in who God is and His promises about your circumstances,
The wind and the waves appeared to be death. But Jesus was the answer. When our circumstances appear to speak death, we look inside at Jesus, the Person of Peace, who lives in our hearts. We make less of our problems by telling them how big our God is. We continually ask the Holy Spirit to remind us of God’s truth and His promises.
God never turns away from us. He never turns a blind eye to what we are going through and expects us to figure things out on our own. God declares that we are mighty men and women of valor for a reason. He is in us. He is with us, and He is for us. And if He is for us, what dares to be against us (Romans 8:31)?
The Lord has made His home in you. You have no reason to fear. You have a relationship with Jesus, the Person of Peace. But you must invite Him into all your circumstances and expect His transformation. Let Him be in control of your emotions. Choose God’s truth over what you see or feel or what others speak.
Jesus speaks death to your storm and life to you. The storm that rages hears Him. Do you?
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