Maybe that fierce storm has arisen in your world today. Maybe the high waves are breaking into your boat; into your life. Maybe you feel as if your life has started to take on water and it is only a matter of time before you drown in your own circumstances. The question for you is the same the disciples faced that day. Where is Jesus in your life? Where is He in your boat?
Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke him up, shouting, "Teacher, don't you care that we're going to drown?" When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Silence! Be still!" Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm. Then he asked them, "Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?" The disciples were absolutely terrified. "Who is this man?" they asked each other. "Even the wind and waves obey him!" Mark 4: 38-41 (NLT)
God may not be in the wind but He still can command it! God may not be in
the earthquake or fire, but He still can command them! If you are a born again
believer then you need to remember that Jesus is in your boat! The disciples
were so busy looking at the waves they forgot that God was in their boat. The
waves caused fear and fear is the lack of faith. The same principle applies to
Elijah. As long as he focused on Jezebel he forgot who he served. He forgot
about
I know that may sound harsh but look at what Jesus says to the disciples "Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?" I know sometimes in the world of super-spirituality we fancy ourselves as never losing faith. Let me pop that bubble right now. If you find yourself so afraid of your circumstances that you feel like Elijah did or as Joseph must have felt, it is not a fear issue it is a faith issue. We limit ourselves so much by our finite thinking. Faith is all we need beloved. Jesus is in our boat but the truth is that we do not even need the boat! Peter proved that the day he walked on water! As long as he kept his focus on his God, Peter defied the very laws of nature. Why? Because God is above the laws He created! But do not think for a minute it is anything but a matter of faith. Here is what Jesus said to Peter when he began to sink:
Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. "You have so little faith," Jesus said. "Why did you doubt me?" Matthew 14: 31 (NLT)
When we look into the problems we face and feel like giving up God is asking us why do you doubt me? When we look for God in the wind and in the fire, God is asking us why do you doubt me? When the earthquake is tearing our lives apart to the point that we want to give up, God is asking us why do you doubt me?
You see, God is writing the story beloved. He needed Elijah to reconstitute
his faith before He would move him on in his story. God needed Joseph to work
out his bitterness and anger towards his brothers and Potiphar's wife before
the next chapter can be written. You see the next chapter for Joseph had him
becoming Prime Minister over all of
That is what God is saying to us today. Stop looking where I am not. Stop concentrating on how serious the waves look and focus instead on how powerful your God is! Fear is the opposite of faith. Fear is actually the lack of faith. God does not want you cowering over the earthquake. He does not want you cringing from the fire. Look instead inside of you to where God is. He still is in your boat. Storm? He doesn't want you afraid of the storm He wants you walking above it!
And that brings us to the key verse for today. Our lives are supposed to be
devoted to Christ. We are not supposed to fit God into our lives but rather
make our lives be about God. As long as we do that, we are assured here that
NOTHING we do for Him is ever useless. Another translation says that nothing we
do will be in vain. All parts of the story matter. Those 12 years Joseph spent
in prison mattered in who he became. Realize that when he got out God took him
from the prison to the palace in ONE day. Joseph would spend the next 90 years
in prosperity. It would take 400 years for the blessings for
Our key verse gives three instructions to us today. One, we must work enthusiastically for the Lord. The Bible says the Lord loves a cheerful giver and that means more than just money. There should never be the sense of entitlement that Elijah was dealing with. Where we start to hold our service to God against Him. Enthusiastically also means that we do not do our service half way. Sometimes we can get into a rut where we start to "go through the motions." It is in the rut where the devil finds a willing ear. Don't give him one.
Lastly, the key verse also says that we need to be strong and immovable. Nothing should ever come between us and the God we serve. No fire. No earthquake. No wind storm. No threats from the Jezebels in our lives. No twelve years in prison. I am amazed sometimes at how little things can throw us off track. Something will happen politically or culturally and Christians will act like it is the end of the world. Is God still not on the throne? As long as He who commands the wind, the earth and the fire lives in my boat, it doesn't matter what tries to move me I am not moving! I will stand strong!
That is the word for someone today. You feel as if you are at the end. Like Elijah, you want to give up. God is telling you that it is a matter of faith. Do not look into the heart of your problems and ask where God is. He is still in your boat and if the problems are not enough to wake the Master, why in the world should you be worried about them?
Hallelujah!
Reverend Anthony Wade November 10, 2011
