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Matthew 14:22-32 and Mark 7:45-56 recount the story of Jesus walking on water.  The Matthew incident inserts the account of Peter, in his typical brashness, called to Him, ” Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water!”  Jesus issued the power-filled word, “ Come!” which would have carried Peter safely into Jesus’ arms, BUT WHEN (he took his eyes OFF of “looking to Jesus” and responding to His powerful word), he “saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified (filled with fear) and began to sink, crying, ‘SAVE ME, LORD!”  Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him.   ‘You have so little faith.  Why did not doubt Me?‘” (This is what happens when we move our gaze AWAY from Jesus!!!   Our faith becomes small.)

The scriptures in Matthew 14 go on to say that “when they climbed back into the boat, the wind stopped!”   It would be fair to assume that Peter’s eyes were FIXED on Jesus, His Savior once they were reunited!!!   When God’s power is present…and when we have received His help…and received His person, looking once again at Him…the “storm” will stop!   The calm will return.

The best “storm sense” you can have is this:  Keep your eyes ever on Jesus.   Before…during…and after the storms of life! He WILL carry you through!

We all come in and out of “stormy” times in our lives.  Thankfully, I personally happen to be in a peaceful time of calm at the moment; but having spent almost 15 years in Kansas, I have learned that “weather patterns” can change suddenly.  One must always have an “ear” to the “Weatherman”, Jesus, and be watching and prepared …listening much Him so one can “know” what to do when particular “storms” come.   As we are faithful to “take cover” under the shadow of His Wings, we can be assured that regardless of what comes our way…His promises of protection and provision are ours for the asking.   Stay close to Him, for He is our “shelter”!

One reason many are not in a position to “hear” what the Spirit is saying to them personally is because they are distracted by the activity and “storms” that are going on in the lives of those around them.  Sometime, we can be affected by the storms in other’s lives…especially if we are closely connected to them by family ties, friendship, working relationships, or even neighbors; but God does not release us from our own personal daily responsibility to “come unto Him, look to Him, listen to Him” to receive rest for our souls.  Matthew 11: 28-30.

“Storm sense” tells us to always fix our eyes on Jesus and not become “externally referenced” to the degree that we lose our peace with Him just because others we are closely tied to in life are not looking to Him.  Because we love and care for others, sometime we find we go to “extremes” to attempt to “fix” their problems.  Of course we are to faithfully stand with loved ones in their personal tests and trials and “be there” for them in the midst of their “storms”; but in doing so, we are to guard against taking our eyes off Jesus personally and getting them onto others or their circumstances.   None but Jesus can SAVE….and if no one is “looking to Jesus”…then all will sink!!

I recall times in my own life when I allowed myself to become so distracted by the activity and storms of others that I failed to “hear” what My Father was saying to me personally.   These things became distractions to my spirit, and they threw me off.  I became swallowed up in the winds and waves that were assailing them. People experience many extreme situations; and I have been guilty of absorbing their pain, their unsettledness, their confusion rather than personally looking steadfastly to Jesus, seeking Him, and carefully following what He has to say.   So as others found themselves in the “extremes and dangers” of life, sometimes not being faithful to look to Jesus for themselves, I allowed that to “color” my inward peace.   As they struggled, I struggled with them, noticing their situations, thinking about them too much, experiencing what they were feeling to a point that caused me to become “distracted” from my personal “look” to Jesus; and it broke my focus on precious truth that the Lord had revealed to me and was expecting me to continue to walk in.   Beware of this temptation.

We know that the scriptures tell us that Jesus is “touched” by the feeling of our infirmities (Hebrews 4:15); and we, too, as humans can understand and identify with the weaknesses and frailties that take place around us, but we must not allow ourselves to become absorbed in them.   We must stand in faith in the midst of “storms”…ours or other’s.  We can only do that by “keeping our eyes on Jesus”…keeping our thoughts turned focused, and fixed upon Him and His Truth day by day.   “He will keep those in perfect peace whose mind is stayed upon Him,” Isaiah 26:3

As a young Christian, I recall the deep influence of one of my Sunday School teachers, “Miss Eleanor”.  She was a godly woman who knew what it was” to keep her mind stayed upon Him”, for it showed in all aspects of her life.  She faithfully taught a little band of girls age, 12-14, back in the late 50′s and early 60′s, and her living witness impacted me profoundly in so many ways.  

One included her behavior in the midst of what was surely one of the most terrible “storms” in her personal life as a mother.  Her youngest son, (about 18 at the time), died instantly in a tragic car accident just outside of our small Georgia town.  My father was a Deacon in our church, and it fell to him to go, along with the Pastor, to tell Miss Eleanor and her husband the tragic news.   He came home describing, in awe, that as they broke the terrible news to them, Eleanor instantly fell to the floor in deep heart pain, but immediately jumped back up…and looked up to God, calling upon His Name for His love and peace to cover her family.   Her face shone with the presence of God. I know this precious saint suffered greatly as a mother in grief, but I also, know that from the first moment she heard of her grievous situation, she made a crucial decision to immediately “look to Jesus” for His peace that so mightily gives strength to all in the midst of the “storm”. What a witness!   I have never forgotten it.  I also credit Miss Eleanor and another teacher of the same character and commitment to Jesus, Miss Winnie, for loving me to Jesus and teaching me the truth of His ways as a young teenager by LIVING their faith…not just speaking of it!

I have cried out to God many times (even in the face of the death of my precious husband almost 11 years ago) to not live and abide in the “extremes” of pain and loss and hurt and disappointment, (my own or other’s), but to resist it in His Name and Power, humble myself before Him in the face of such things, and pray for the wisdom to know the difference between “storms” I need to rebuke, due to the panic and fear of those in the boat with me…or which “storms” I am to “walk over” by focusing my thoughts upon Jesus.

“Storm sense!   Lord, give me the SIGNAL from within my spirit in the midst of a storm, whenever one may come. In the midst of deep trials, tests, hurts, grief, disappointments, perils and dangers, we are to look to Him for the joy, the confidence, the wisdom, the understanding and the peace to walk purposefully through it!     AND in the calm times, the sunny days.  Not to lose my focus in the sun or the rain, not to look to the left or the right, but to ever and always…keep my eyes firmly fixed upon Jesus…from Whom my help comes!”

“Storm sense“  tells us to “keep our minds stayed upon Him,”   for “Jesus Christ is the SAME…yesterday, today, and forever!”  Hebrews 13:8

He is the Rock. Steady.  He changes NOT!

Looking unto Jesus through the storms!

Sandy

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