If you've ever been on a boat during a storm and lived to tell the tale, you would probably come out radically changed. I remember a few years back I was on a 1,200-capacity passenger ship going through a little bit of thunder, rain and winds. Bags were being tossed around the cargo and you could hear plates and utensils falling to the floor in the kitchens. I only slept half of the night that time.
Imagine what the disciples must have gone through coming through an intense storm on a fishing boat. As Jesus calmed the storm, there must have been many things going through their minds. One thing for sure is they came out of that situation completely different.
That night when Jesus and the disciples went through the storm and survived it because the Son of God stood up and rebuked the winds, the disciples learned life-changing lessons that transformed them from the inside out. Here are three lessons that the disciples learned that night and some that we can also learn and derive internal change from.
It's not our voyage
As the disciples went out to sea obeying Jesus's command to cross, Mark 4:35 tells us "That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, 'Let us go over to the other side.'" We often forget that the voyage or the mission is not ours, but God's. Does Jesus care if we're going to drown in a storm that hits during the mission? Yes, He does because it's His mission.
There will be storms
When we are on God's mission riding His boat carrying out His agenda, we cannot expect the enemy to take things lightly. Satan will throw everything our way to stop us from crossing the sea and completing our voyage.
God never promises storm-free lives but storm-proof ones. No matter what storms and trials come our way, we can hold fast to the declaration that we are on God's mission and Jesus is on our boat. As a result, we can be assured that we will not sink.
When it's God's call, you know you'll make it
Hebrews 4:16 calls us to "...approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." Because we know God never fails, we can be assured that no amount of storms or trials can stop us from fulfilling His good, pleasing and perfect will.
