In the Struggles and Storm, Pt. 2
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When we reach out for help, we want immediate results. We tend to measure our level of trust in someone by their response time. So when they don’t text us back right away, we wonder if they really care at all. But Pastor Nick Gatzke challenges us to trust God’s timing even when it doesn’t match ours
Sometimes the storms in life are self-created and they’re the consequences of our actions. But other times, the storms of life can come upon us when we are doing exactly what we’re supposed to be doing. If the disciples had disobeyed Jesus, they would have most likely had a quiet night around the fire. recounted the activities of the day, had some stories and some laughter, had a hot meal and a good, solid, long rest. And instead, because they obeyed, they’re dripping wet, they’re exhausted, they’re physically rowing for hours, they’re making little ground, they’re scared, and they’re miserable, and they’re wondering if this is possibly going to ever end.
Their obedience to the Lord brought them into the storm. Sometimes your obedience to the Lord will bring you into the storm as well. And you might not even see it coming. And in that moment, there’s a very real choice to be made. I could choose the short-term comfort. and take the route of disobedience, or I could trust him in the middle of and through the storm.
Eugene Peterson speaks about the dynamics of obedience this way. He said, “at the age of 35, I bought running shoes in the beginning, joined the smooth rhythms of long-distance running. Soon, I was competing in 10K races every month or so, and then a marathon once a year. By then, I was subscribing to and reading three running magazines, and then I pulled a muscle, and I couldn’t run for a couple of months. Those magazines were still all over the house, but I never opened one. The moment I resumed running, though, I started reading again, and that’s when I realized that my reading was an extension of something I was a part of. I was reading,” he says, “for companionship and affirmation of the experience of running. I learned a few things along the way, but mostly it was to deepen my world of running. If I wasn’t running, there was nothing to deepen.”
So there’s a parallel here with reading scripture and hearing and obeying God. He said, if I’m not living in an active response or obedience, to the living God, then reading about his creation, his salvation, his holiness won’t hold my interest for very long. The most important question isn’t, what does it mean? But it is, what can I obey? Simple obedience will open up our lives to the truth of scripture more quickly than any number of Bible studies dictionaries.
There’s a good lesson here about the nature of obedience. If the disciples had disobeyed and sought their short-term comfort, they would have missed something and would have never seen or experienced or gained from what was about to happen. They would have missed an opportunity to see Jesus for who he really is. They would have missed an opportunity to see the magnificence of the fact that he is God. Their short-term comfort would have cost them long-term gain. And so it is for you, and so it is for me.
If we choose disobedience, we rob ourselves of the opportunity to see just how the Lord of the universe is going to display his glory in our lives. And that’s exactly what Jesus does as he comes to the rescue. Look at verse 48. It says, “he saw they were making headway painfully. The wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of night, he came to them walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them. But when they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and cried out, for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, ‘take heart. It is I. Do not be afraid.’ And he got into the boat with them and the wind ceased and they were utterly astonished for they did not understand about the loaves, but their heart was hardened.”
Jesus does in these few short verses something that only God can do. The fourth watch of the night is between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. The struggle had gone on long enough. Could he have gone down there earlier? Yep. Did he? Nope. Could he rescue you out of the storms in your life earlier? Yep. Sometimes he does. And sometimes there’s an opportunity for us to learn in the struggle. And so Jesus comes. to them after the struggle has been going on long enough, walking on water. T
he experience of his true power is being displayed again. The first time that they were in a storm with Jesus, you might remember he was sleeping in the boat, and the focus of the story was on the great power of his word to still the sea and have authority over nature. And here, the greater focus is on his identity and his power.
He shows them very plainly he is God, and he does so in three ways. Number one, only God can walk on water, period. It seems obvious. It might feel trite to read it in just a couple of verses, but just as only God can forgive sins, just as only God can fulfill the nature of the Sabbath, just as only God has the power to miraculously multiply food, walking on water shows that Jesus walks. only where God walks. The second way he shows them that he does only what God can do is in his verbal self-disclosure and affirmation.
As he walks, he speaks to them, but he identifies himself in a very particular way that is quite striking. He says, take heart. It is I. Do not be afraid. It is I. Or in the Greek, that little phrase, ego eimi, which is the self-revealed name of God. It literally translates, I am. In the Hebrew, Yahweh. And so Jesus is in the midst of the storm. The disciples have now been struggling for hours. He walks three miles into the middle of the lake and he’s “take heart, it is I, and I am God. So you do not need to be afraid.”
By his own words, he identifies himself as the divine. He not only walks where God walks, but he also takes his name. Thirdly, we see that Jesus was passing them by. That’s a really peculiar part of the story, isn’t it? Jesus is walking on the water. The disciples think he’s a ghost. He assures them of who he is. And it says that as he was walking, he meant to pass them. It’s kind of a cruel prank by God. But why would he do that? Well, I think here you have another illusion. to the way that God shows himself to his people in the Old Testament.
You see, at Mount Sinai, God is with Moses on the mountain and Moses is communing with God and he boldly asks God in Exodus 33, show me your glory. And God responds this way. In Exodus 33:21, the Lord said, “behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock. And while my glory passes by, I will put you in the cleft of the rock and will cover you with my hand until I have passed by.” In Exodus 33:19, he said, “I will make all of my goodness pass.” And Exodus 34:6. And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, passes before Moses as he is revealing who he is.
He does it again at Mount Horeb, the self-revelation of God to the prophet Elijah. In 1 Kings 19:11, he said, “go out and stand on the mount before the Lord and behold, the Lord passed by. And a great and strong wind tore the mountain and broke into pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.” You see, God’s self-disclosure to his chosen people was as he passed in front of them or passed by. And if he had addressed them face to face, if God had turned to Moses and squared up with him, he would have been consumed by his glory. And so he passed by so that the engaging experience of his glory and his goodness would be known and he would live to tell about it.
And now, The God-man, Jesus, is allowing his disciples to experience a glimpse of divine glory as he passes them by while walking on the water. There is an awesome separation between God and humanity. God can do what humanity could never dream of doing. says in Job chapter 9, “God alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea. When he passes me, I cannot see him. When he goes by, I cannot perceive him.”
God is completely other than you and me. His power is supreme. His glory is unimaginable. And Jesus displays that type of power and glory and reality in his very own person. And what this means for those disciples in that day and what it means for you and for me today is very simply this. When you are in the storms of life, cling to Jesus because he has the divine power to see you through. When you’re in the storms of life, cling to him because he’s the one that has all the power to see you through.
[EDITOR FLAG: Speaker says “Mark 51 and 52” — likely means Mark 6:51–52 (chapter number may have been dropped in transcription); please verify against audio before correcting.]
And that’s exactly what he does in this instance. Jesus calms the storm. He hops in the boat. They continue on to Gennesaret. He displays his nature and his power and more healing. But the question remains, why did Jesus send the disciples ahead and make them experience the storm? Why? Just because he wanted some alone time to pray? No. It tells us in Mark [chapter 6] 51 and 52 that he got into the boat with them. The wind ceased. They were utterly astounded. And here’s the reason. For they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.
That’s astounding. They had just seen him mere hours ago, multiply food to feed thousands of people. And apparently, they were amazed by the miracle, but they didn’t see the miracle worker for who he really was. Before that, they had gone out, commissioned by Jesus to preach and to heal and cast out demons, things that they would have never, ever done before, things that… in them this incredible experience of supernatural power. But they didn’t recognize that the Jesus who had sent them was actually God.
It says their hearts were hardened. And so he sends them into the storm so that they will see his divine nature. In the storms of life, Cling to Jesus because he has divine power to see you through. I wonder if maybe you are the one who has seen the work of God but not bended the knee to his son as God. I think a lot of people see incredible things that God does in the world by his hands. Their heart is hardened. Jesus and thus the need to follow him. And then they forget about those works of God.
I think a lot of people hear the words of Christ. Come to him if you’re weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest, he says. Or the words to turn away from your sins and seek the forgiveness that he alone can offer you because he loves you. Or the implication that if Jesus is announcing the kingdom of God, he himself is the king of that kingdom, then we’re called to follow him with our lives instead of just living our own lives our own way. I think a lot of people hear those things, but because their heart is hardened, like the disciples, they fail to acknowledge him with the level of severity and awe and wonder and glory that he deserves.
So what about you? Is your heart hardened or is it soft toward Jesus? Are you seeing but not perceiving? Hearing but not acknowledging? Ask God to soften your heart to his son and make the choice to follow him as your king and as your God. And what do you do if you’re in the storm right now? How do you prepare for the storm when it comes? Because where you turn when you’re in the midst of the crisis reveals who you really trust in or what you really trust in. You’re in the midst of the crisis, you can turn all kinds of different directions while you’re grasping for control, grasping for health, grasping for relief.
And where you turn reveals where your trust is. You have the opportunity, friends, if you’re in the storm right now, to cling to Jesus. to cling to the one who has divine power, the one who also loves you. Though the struggle might be long, it might be longer than you want it to be. And it has been for so many of us. He will come at the right time. I think there’s another point of application that’s helpful here. It’s a helpful reminder to… to recognize that sometimes Jesus calls us to enter into the storm.
And only when we do so in full obedience will you see his divine power in your life. And that makes the struggle worth it. So if you’re in the storm, Cling to him, call to him, acknowledge his divine power and his watch care over you and look to the one who displays glory upon glory as he walks on water and passes you by only to climb into the boat and still the storm of your life. In the storms of life, cling to Jesus because he has the divine power to see you through. Let’s pray. Lord God, forgive us for the times that we minimize or so casually think of your son as something less than he is.
God, we thank you for displays of his glory. Stir within us, God, a heart and a mind that does not merely acknowledge with our mind that he is God, but lives in the reality of his divine power and might. And encourage us in this. that our Savior does not leave us on the sea to struggle against the wind forever. Deliver those who need deliverance from the storm, we pray. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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This transcript was generated using AI transcription technology and reviewed for accuracy, but may contain errors. Please refer to the original audio for precise wording.
