The Calm Be For the Storm

The Calm Be For the Storm

When I was growing up my whole family went on vacation together. I don’t mean my parents and siblings I mean my whole family. All of us. Grandparents down to the youngest cousin. We rented this house on the beach for a week. For about a decade or so, every year, it was the same house. It kinda felt like it was our vacation house. As a kid I didn’t realize that someone else owned it and that other people stayed in it. I thought it was ours. 

I can remember so many times, so many years we used to watch storms out in the Atlantic roll by or roll in. I can still remember some of them. The sun would still be shining on the house, yard, and beach where we played. You could see this thick wall of dark… almost like a curtain in the sky just move across the water with ease. Nothing could stop it and nothing would try. 

We would continue to play as long as we were allowed. Which was usually short lived once the lightning got too close for comfort. Then, we would watch from inside the house. The upstairs had this area where all the kids slept and it had all these windows and a sliding glass door. Good vantage point to watch the storm come in. And as bad as some of the storms got, we never got scared because our parents and family didn’t get scared. No matter how hard the rain and thunder and lightning ripped through the sky, we never feared. 

There’s an old saying about storms I’m sure you’ve heard once or twice: “The calm before the storm.” Almost as if the storm brought peace before it unleashed chaos. I like to think it’s more of “the calm be for the storm.” No, that’s not a typo. No, I didn’t mess it up. It’s intentional and here’s what I mean by it. 

All of us experience storms in our lives. Jesus even promised it in John 16:33. Some of us experience financial storms. Some marital storms. Some health storms. All of these challenge our peace. 

But here’s the thing about peace… Peace isn’t a perspective - it’s a position. Peace isn’t a lens through which you view your situation. Peace is a place you stand. It’s a firm foundation. It’s a perfect platform. 

Jesus promised storms, but He also promised peace. And peace isn’t the absence of a storm, it’s the presence of a Savior. You see, there’s a super famous story in the New Testament that can be found in Matthew 8, Mark 4, and Luke 8 where Jesus was crossing the Sea of Galilee with His disciples… and He falls asleep. Days on end of ministry will do that to you. 

The most shocking thing to me about this story isn’t that Jesus was sleeping through a storm. Although, that is shocking because at least four of the disciples were professional fisherman on that very lake and it says that they were all afraid for their lives. That’s a heck of a storm Jesus is sleeping through. 

It’s not shocking that Jesus rebuked His disciples. That happens a lot. It happens to us too. It’s not shocking that Jesus calms the wind and rain. He created it. Therefore, He knows how to handle it. Just like us. 

No, the most shocking part, to me, is that Jesus’ intent wasn’t to protect His disciples from the storm, but to protect them through it. If Jesus wanted to protect them from it He wouldn’t have fallen asleep and would have shown them the way around or calmed it down so He could actually take that nap. 

Jesus knew the boat wasn’t going down. Sure, some water was gonna get in, but it wasn’t sinking. Again, if it sinks, He doesn’t get that nap. Jesus was confident that they would make it through. So confident that He went ahead and fell asleep and stayed asleep through it all until His disciples forgot who was in their boat. 

You see, peace may come before the storms of life get to you. The real question is, do you hold onto peace through the storm? All the way through. Not lose your mind in the middle and wake Jesus up. It’s really easy to have more faith in the wind and the waves than the One who created them. Just ask Peter. He walked on water and still sunk. He let go of peace, then he let go of hope. And he sunk. 

I don’t know what storms you’ve made it through. I don’t know what storms you’re going through. I don’t know what storms you’re yet to face. And you don’t know mine. But we both know this: storms aren’t going away. So don’t let the storms drive out your peace. Don’t let the storms steal your hope. That’s when we sink. 

And if Jesus is in your boat, it’s never gonna sink. It might get some water in it. It might get tattered and beat up a little. It might rip a sail or two… but it won’t sink. 

So instead of fighting the wind and waves, maybe go take a nap with Jesus at the front of the boat. He’s got this.