The Kindness of a Storm
Read: Matthew 14:22
Most of us would gladly order blue skies every day of the year. We plan our weekends and our daily commutes assuming that sunshine is a blessing and rain is a nuisance. Yet anyone who has watched a parched landscape turn green after a winter downpour knows the deeper truth: without storms (esp. rain), nothing grows. We may not enjoy the storm, but we treasure what it leaves behind.
Could the same be true of the soul? Matthew tells us that Jesus “made His disciples get into the boat” (v. 22), and the verb carries the force of a command. Only hours earlier, these men had shared in the miracle of the loaves, yet Mark tells us they “had not understood about the loaves, because their heart was hardened” (Mark 6:52). Jesus knew that some lessons could not be learned on the bountiful shore, so He sent them out into the dark upon the Sea of Galilee, where the lesson was waiting.
That is a startling thought. The Lord who loves us may lead us into places we would never choose, not because He has lost track of us, but because He is at work in us. Hebrews 12:6 reminds us that the Lord disciplines those He loves, and that discipline is training, not cruelty.
Today, consider the storm you are in. Instead of asking only how quickly it might pass, ask what good He may be growing there.
Watch the full sermon: [Youtube]