March 23, 2012

“Sometimes you are delayed where you are because God knows there’s a storm where you’re headed.” Author Unknown

This past week I found this quote on Pinterest and it has not left my mind since reading it.  I have no idea who the original author was, but the words have been resonating with me ever since. 

How many times I’ve gotten so frustrated because I think I’m having to wait way too long for whatever it is my heart longs for at that time...and later (much, much later) I get to look back and realize how thankful I am God delayed me. Had my life progressed like I wanted the script to read, I would have ran smack dab into a storm.  And navigating a storm without the Lord’s blessing...that’s just not what I want to face.

It also makes me think about one of my favorite passages to share. I’ve used it with students, in adult bible studies, and it’s part of a devotional collection I’ve been writing. It’s a passage that describes the disciples’ experience when life was not delayed (and they probably wished it would have been!). They found themselves scared for their life in the midst of a terrifying storm. And they were flabbergasted that the Lord was sleeping through it.

Mark 4:35-41  (NIV)

There have definitely been times I’ve wondered, “God are you even listening to me?” or “God, do you really care?” or “If God really loved me, how could He let this happen to me?” 

Suddenly a large wrench is thrown into life’s plans.  Or my prayers seem to be falling on deaf ears as I continue to wait for something that seems like it may never happen. Or I wrestle with how God is allowing something like a family member’s death, a devastating fire destroying a home, a job loss, a battle with cancer to occur if He was really paying attention.

The disciples themselves who ate, slept, and walked alongside Jesus also wondered, “How could He let this happen to us?”  

Their actual question of Him: “Don’t you care if we drown?”

I can only imagine their fear and their bewilderment…here was their Master, fast asleep seemingly without a care in the world as they toss and turn in the waves to what seems like impending death.  But with just words, Jesus responded and quieted the storm.

What can I learn from this scenario? 

#1: Jesus told them where they were going…to the other side of the lake.  When Jesus said they were going to the other side, you can bet that they were going to the other side.  In a sense, a direction like that is a promise of an arrival at the other side.  He has given us a promise as well.  His PROMISE is that following time here on earth, followers of Christ will return home to Him in heaven.

#2 Then there is God’s PRESENCE. Jesus said, “Let US go over to the other side?”  We are never sent out into the stormy waters alone.  The promise to get to the other side includes God’s PRESENCE.  Right there on the boat, right next to the disciples in the journey, was Jesus.  His PRESENCE was with them.  As the storm came up and took over, it appeared that Jesus was ignorant to the circumstances they were in. 

Sometimes it’s so easy for me to think, “God, are you even aware of what I am going through?  Are you really paying attention?”  The disciples see that Jesus is asleep and wonder if he even cares.  If they thought outside of that moment, if they reflected on everything they had just heard him teach that day, perhaps they would have realized He really was in control.  But instead, they focused on the moment. Even in His PRESENCE they worry that they will not get to the other side.

#3 And then there is His POWER. We see that Jesus’ POWER rests in just words.  He had allowed in His Sovereignty for the disciples to live through stormy circumstances.  But in His timing, His POWER takes only words to refute the storms. 

If only.  If only I would remember His PROMISE.  He has told me I’m going to the other side. He has promised me He will return.  He has promised a home awaiting me in heaven. Sometimes I may think He is asleep on the cushion of the boat, oblivious to what is going on around me, but His PRESENCE is always there.  And there is POWER in His words...Perhaps I should rest more in the power of the words “It is finished” than wrestling with why my life’s not moving in the direction I think it should go.

After all…nothing beats His promise, presence, and power.  Regardless of whether life is delayed as He protects me from a storm or whether He protects me in His presence in the midst of a storm...He really does know best!