[This Reflection was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 26/Apr/2020]
Martin recently preached online about Jesus calming the storm on the Sea of Galilee, and he wondered if any of us had experienced a storm at sea. I thought at the time of one occasion when this happened to Barbara and myself, and the amazing thing is that it happened on the Sea of Galilee.
We were drifting in the middle of the Sea of Galilee. The crew had stopped the engine so that we could read together the well known Bible passages about Jesus stilling the storm, and also about Him walking on the water during a storm. I looked at the calm, blue water and found it hard to imagine a storm there. We sang some songs and ended with, “Be still, for the power of the Lord is moving in this place”. Suddenly a powerful wind hit the sea, and within seconds waves broke over the side of the boat. Several of us were drenched from head to foot. The engine was quickly started and we travelled through the waves to our destination but the crew were worried that we would be swept against the jetty. They decided that it would be best to go all the way back through the storm to the more sheltered town of Tiberias, where we were able to get off the tossing boat with great difficulty.
During our journey back across the sea to Tiberias, I looked at my friends. Some appeared very worried about the storm and others were obviously nauseous. Normally I would have been worried too, but on this occasion I loved every moment of the storm! Firstly, instead of worrying, I was excited that the words from the Bible that we had read were true. “Without warning, a furious storm came upon the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat”, (Matthew 8:24), and on the other occasion, “Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind he was afraid and beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord save me”” (Matthew 14:29-30). Secondly, and even more importantly, I didn’t worry as the boat rolled from side to side because I was filled with a tremendous sense of the presence of the Lord, and a calm assurance that He was in control.
At the present time we are facing a sudden, powerful storm that no one expected. Many have suffered through terrible illness, thousands of others are grieving through the loss of loved ones, NHS staff and care workers are struggling to treat those people who are seriously affected by the virus, and even the rest of us are finding problems with the lockdown.
In a song that we sing, the chorus has these words, “Oh no, You never let go, through the calm and through the storm”. Most of us have never experienced a storm like this in our lives and there may come a time when we begin to sink; but we can cry out to Jesus to save us. We can have a calm assurance that He takes hold of us just as He did with Peter. By faith we can hold on to Him too, but He is the one Who never lets go of us. “I will never leave you nor forsake you”. (Joshua 1:5)
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Contributed by Michael Goble; © the Author
