Finding Courage in Life's Storms

“Absolutely terrified…I can’t think of any other way to describe what I was feeling, and I remember that feeling quite well.”

Fear from being alone (You know fear of being blindsided by unexpected and realizing that you’re all alone to face it.)

Hopelessness and helplessness (All had this feeling…All have it again…Some right now…)

Giving up all hope turns to relief from very presence of mom

Blindsided by something unexpected and world is spinning out of control, you want to know that you’re not alone. You want to know that there is someone who is in control even when you’re not.

Matthew 14:22-33

Immediately after feeding 5,000…after full day of healing the sick…disciples buzzing with excitement…emotions high…Jesus needed time alone (beheading of J the B)…pick up story in verse 22 of 14th chapter

Read Matthew 14:22-28.

Think about what the disciples were going through.

Sends them ahead of him onto the Sea of Galilee.
Climb into boat—2 small cars end-to-end…no more than 15 people.
Nasty storm springs up—not unheard of.
Boat taking quite a beating…disciples thrown all over the place…as if wind is intentionally keeping them from land.
Arm and leg muscles are burning…all that keeps them going is knowing they need to survive.
9 hours…no progress…couple miles from land…storm not letting up
Fear and hopelessness must have been overwhelming.

Things get worse.

Growing up…spirits on the sea…
Sign of imminent disaster…
Now a lone figure on the horizon moving toward the boat on the water’s surface…
“It’s a ghost!” ... Childhood legends come crashing into your mind harder than waves on the boat.
Completely without hope.

We’ve all been there before. The circumstances are different, but the hopelessness is all too familiar. Life is going along just fine when you’re blindsided by something very unexpected.

I think of Chris who is working two jobs already trying to put food on the table for her four boys all under the age of 5, and now she desperately wants to find the money to give her kids the Christmas that they deserve.
I think of Jeff, who has already been coping with being out of work for the better part of the year, and now he and his wife are looking at a broken marriage that is rapidly approaching divorce.
I think of Bob and his family, who had been enjoying the blessings in their lives when the doctors found a mass that might be cancerous, and now they are waiting anxiously to find out the results of the biopsy.
I think of Angie who, after spending a wonderful day at the zoo with her son Luke, watches as a drunk driver careens off the road onto the sidewalk stealing away her child’s life in a matter of seconds.
You’ve lost control of your life, and you feel helpless…hopeless…and afraid. You want nothing more than to just give up.

The figure on the horizon continues to draw closer and closer to the boat, and just when the fear and the hopelessness are about to completely overpower the disciples, they hear a voice.

Familiar voice…heard many times before…It’s Jesus!
Verse 27: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid!”
I wonder if the disciples’ thoughts didn’t immediately go back to a similar situation as this one.

On the Sea of Galilee…storm springs up…Jesus with you, though, in the boat.
Asleep…woke Him up…spoke to wind and waves…they calmed down.
Now Jesus here again.

Peter’s relief is evident.

Probably without even thinking, he blurts out, “Lord, tell me to come out there with you!”
When I was in K-Mart and I heard my mom’s voice, I didn’t wait to see what all was between her and me. I just wanted to get over by her side. Peter felt the same: He would rather be in the midst of the wind and the waves with Jesus, then in the boat without Jesus.
The presence of Jesus was enough to bring courage to Peter and the disciples despite the raging storm that threatened to engulf the little boat.

You see, just like Peter, when our lives are spiraling out of control and we can’t seem to get a grasp on things, there is one thing that we can count on: We can find courage in the presence of Christ.

Jesus’ own words reveal this: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
When we feel hopeless and defenseless against the circumstances of our lives, the presence of Jesus is what brings us courage. When you recognize that Jesus is here, you can have the courage to face your circumstances with hope.

But what about those times when Jesus isn’t with us? Beginning again in verse 28…

We saw in Peter an example of how the presence of Jesus can bring courage…so much so that he asks Jesus to call him out on the water.

Jesus does that very thing, and Peter steps out of the boat and onto the water.
1st step…2nd step…whirling wind catches his attention again.
Whatever confidence Peter had is dashed to pieces as his fear makes him plummet into the water below.
As the water is pulling and pushing at him and he realizes that he’s about to drown, He remembers who he was heading towards, and he cries out, “Lord, save me!”
Then, just as quickly as he dropped into the water, he is pulled out again as Jesus grabs him and hoists him back to the surface.

For the second time in a matter of a couple minutes, Peter is probably flooded with relief as he realizes he’s safe in Jesus’ grasp. But look at what Jesus says to Him: “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”

Jesus’ question is a teaching moment for Peter.
“You of little faith” – 3 other times
2 times – described disciples when they were worried about food and clothing
Other time – When Jesus calmed the storm. Before he calmed the sea, He said to the disciples: “You of little faith, why are you afraid?”
Jesus had always come through for them when it came to preserving their lives. It’s as if he’s now saying to Peter: “Peter, I’m here. Have I ever told you to do something and then left you all alone? Have I ever let you down before? Why would you think this would be different?”

I remember when I was little. I was playing ball out front with a friend when the ball got stuck on the roof in the gutter.

I went in and asked my dad if he would get it down. He was busy at the time so he said that he would, but it would be a few minutes.
I went back outside angry because I had to wait for dad to get the ball down.
I don’t remember exactly what I said to my friend, but I remember that my dad overheard what I said. Whatever it was, it was bad enough that I felt absolutely shameful. I felt like I had let my dad down.
But you know what? He still got the ball down. And what’s more…I’ve always been able to count on him…despite my own failure to do so before.

Peter learned a valuable lesson that day that we would all do well to learn, too.

Even though Peter doubted Jesus’ ability to keep him safe for a moment, he remembered to call on Jesus as he plummeted into the waves.
Even though Peter had forgotten that Jesus was right there with him, that didn’t mean that Jesus left. He was still there.
And there’s more. You see, the boat was a few miles away from land, but Jesus knew exactly where they were at. He may have been able to see them from the mountainside that He was on or He may have just known, but the point is that He knew exactly where they were at. While they may not have been aware that Jesus was watching, He was.
So what about those times when Jesus isn’t with us? The answer to that is easy to say but can be hard to remember: There aren’t any such times. Jesus is always with us no matter how difficult the circumstances are that we face. The last thing that Matthew records Jesus saying to His disciples makes this point: “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
We can have courage in the face of fear because Jesus is here. And He’s always here. Even when we forget that, He’s still here. He hasn’t left you, and He’s waiting for you to call out to Him for help.

We’ve seen that Jesus’ presence is supposed to bring us courage and that He is always here with us. But why is this supposed to be so comforting? Look at verses 32 and 33:

The text is perfectly clear on this: He’s the Son of God.

While the disciples didn’t know the full extent of what being the Son of God meant, they recognized that this Jesus was God’s chosen servant.

Job 9, Psalm 77, and Habakkuk 3 describe God as the only one able to walk on the surface of the water—and yet here was Jesus coming to them on the water.
Job 26, Jonah 1, and Psalms 65, 89, and 107 describe God as the only one with authority to give orders to the winds and the waves and calm storms—and yet Jesus had done this on two separate occasions.
A man could only do these things if God gave him the authority to do them—Jesus had to be the chosen one of God.

We have the benefit of knowing the full revelation of who Jesus is when we view this story.

We see all through Scripture that Jesus is God in the flesh.
We know that He is all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving, and eternal. We know that His sovereignty knows no bounds, and He is subject to nothing—not hurricanes, not tsunamis, not tornadoes, not earthquakes, not finances, not deadlines, not men, not disease, not even death. The list could go on and on, but the point is still the same. Nothing we face can ever take control away from Him.

Now I’m not saying that, if you would just recognize His presence, then everything is going to be okay, and all the storms in your life are going to be calmed by Him.

There are some things in life that will never end up the way that we want them to.
In this encounter, notice that Jesus told them to take courage without calming the storm.

Peter stepped out of the boat and onto the water while the storm was still raging.
Jesus pulled Peter out of the water, but the storm still wasn’t calmed.

All but one of the disciples were put to death because of the work they did for Christ.
Peter and his wife were both executed, and while they were being dragged away from each other, Peter yelled out to his wife.

He didn’t tell her that he loved her. He didn’t tell her how thankful he was for her. All he would say is, “Remember the Lord.”
It may have taken multiple failures in Peter’s life, but eventually he realized the presence of Christ in his life all the time.

Chris may have to always work two jobs to provide for her four boys.

Jeff may not be able to save his marriage.
Bob’s biopsy may come back being cancerous.
Angie has to deal with the loss of her son everyday.

But God is bigger than all of these problems, and God can provide comfort amidst these storms in their lives whether He chooses to calm them or not.

We’ve all had our struggles. We’ll all continue to have struggles. Some of us are struggling with things in our lives at this very moment.

§ You may feel overwhelmed, hopeless, afraid, and alone, but you don’t have to be afraid anymore.

§ Jesus Christ…the Lord of all…the sovereign God…is here, and He’s not going anywhere.

§ Don’t give in to the weight of the world crashing down on you but call out to Him and “Take courage. He is here. Don’t be afraid.”