God’s Presence in the Midst of Storms

DAILY BYTE

We are told that this story of the disciples caught in a storm occurred during the fourth watch of the night, between 3am and 6am. Have you ever lain awake until 3am in the morning fretting about something?

I don’t know if you have noticed, but ‘3 o’ Clock in the morning faith’ is always the hardest faith to come by.

This story hastens to comfort and encourage all who ever find themselves caught up in one of those inevitable life storms, by reminding us just how much we can trust God TO BE THERE in the midst of them with us.

If you read the whole story carefully, you will find that we are told three separate times that Jesus immediately does something. In the beginning of the story Jesus immediately sends his disciples out on a boat to cross to the other side. In the middle of the story Jesus immediately reassures them by saying it is he, and at the end of the story Jesus immediately reaches out to grab Peter’s hand.

There is an immediate sense of the divine in this story. Even while it crackles with lightening-strikes of tension, and has these thunder-rumbling undercurrents of fear, throughout there is this sense of the closeness of God.

If the centre of Matthew’s Gospel is this story, then the centre of the story itself are Jesus’ words of comfort to his fearful disciples which if we translated exactly word for word from the Greek would read: “take courage, I am, not be feared.” The ‘I am’ of course should be recognised as a divine affirmation.

This story affirms that your life can never get so dark and stormy that God cannot find you!

Yet notice that at this point in the story, Jesus does not take away the threat of the storm. This story is not about being spectacularly saved from our troubles but rather it is an affirmation that the presence of a loving God can bring us through times even when our very worst fears rage unchecked around us.

And so at the fourth watch of the night, at about 3am when faith is hardest to come by and when the chaos of the storm is at the peak of its powers, we need to know that God IS with us.

In the middle of our darkest nights, Jesus is always near.

PRAY AS YOU GO

Holy God, you are Lord of all life, and I give thanks to you that your loving presence surrounds and sustains me even during the very worst of my life’s storms. Help me to hold onto you always. Amen.

FOCUS READING

Matthew 14: 22-27 NRSV

Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, "It is a ghost!" And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, "Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid."