“…and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:7
Last year in the summer, we had a mighty storm strike our community. Luckily the tornadoes which had been in the forecast for our area did not transpire, but we still received some very strong winds and experienced days without power and a lot of damage in our neighborhoods. Trees were down, some places in our community had to boil their water, and for a time many felt powerless (pun intended) as they waited in dark, hot homes. Finally, three days later, when the electric company came and restored our lights our children jumped for joy in the prospect of having electricity and air conditioning once more.
While we were out of power, I was reminded of the story of Jesus asleep in the boat. His disciples were in the process of crossing the lake when suddenly a storm blew up. Many of the disciples were skilled, professional fishermen, but the prospect of being stuck on the water in the middle of the storm was extremely frightening to them…and where was Jesus? Still asleep in the front of the boat. Finally they rush forward and awaken Him, declaring dramatically “Jesus, help us, can’t you see we’re about to die?” Jesus gets up, and rebukes the waves and immediately the waters calm and the storm subsides. The story doesn’t end there though, because Jesus then turns back to His disciples and says “Why are you so afraid…Do you still not have faith?” Talk about words that struck deep and to the heart. Jesus was with them and he calmed the storm with mere words.
Do you have any storms in your life right now that seem dangerous and frightening?
Do you know the One who calms storms? He truly is in the boat with you right now, and you just need to call out to Him and He will save you! Rest assured He will bring Peace, perfect peace into your life this day!
Prayer: Lord I give to you this storm that brewing in my life right now. You know the details, the causes, the troubles I am facing. I ask that you calm my heart and place your peace in my life despite the swirling waves of doubt and fear. Be with me now, and help me to find safe passage in my day. Lead me into Your peace. -Amen.
can cling to. He is always there to provide safety and security! His strength and light shines and frightens all of the darkness away! He is our Savior and the One who calms the storms of this life! I would venture like any parent, our Heavenly Father becomes afraid for us at times. He longs to rush in and rescue us. Perhaps it is just me, but I think of my Heavenly Father like that – fulfilling that role. His strength is sufficient for any task and any danger. That doesn’t mean that we go looking for trouble, but when trouble finds us, and it will, we can cling to the Rock of our Salvation! Run to Him! Tell Him of your fears. Allow His mighty hands to enfold you and protect you. Find comfort and encouragement in Him today ! He is Your Rock and Your Salvation…do not be afraid!! So let me ask you…what are you afraid of???
We see this all the time though don’t we? There is a lot of hate in our world today. Wouldn’t it be amazing to worship and adore God so much that we naturally love our neighbors around us? What an amazing world we would live in if we respected and loved one another because our first love was God. Even the people of Jesus’ day questioned who their neighbors were. In Luke, right after Jesus repeats the Shema Yisrael and speaks of loving our neighbor, one of the teachers asks “who is my neighbor?” You can almost hear the wheels churning in this man’s mind. Can we pick and choose who our neighbor is? Does my neighbor look like me, have the same interest as me, perhaps have the same skin color as me? Is “my neighbor” those I choose to associate myself with? The answer is NO! Jesus takes it a step further and tells them the parable of the Good Samaritan to illustrate our neighbor is more than people who look like us, talk like us, and have the same interests or cultural practices.
Loving God with all of our being broadens the world around us.
This reminded me of another story. A story that Jesus told. It was about a woman who had lost one of her ten silver coins. This may have been all that she owned in the world, and losing just one of those coins would have been devastating to her. So she tears her house apart looking for this lost coin until she finds it. Then she calls her neighbors together to celebrate with her. Jesus told this tale to illustrate just how important every person on this earth is to Him. He doesn’t want to lose anyone along the way. In fact, just before this story Jesus told another story – the parable of the lost sheep, and at the very end of that story He said, “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”
This was more than coincidental, this signified God’s presence would no longer just reside in the temple, but He could be accessed by everyone all because of what Christ did on the cross.
Pastor's Ponderings 