Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. 24 Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25 The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”
26 He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.
27 The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!” Matthew 8:23-27.
Hurricanes are devastating and frightening.
The path of the storm is unpredictable as is its strength as it travels across land and sea. While modern weather technology provides reliable predictions about a hurricane’s path, the storms do not always follow the projection. However, every hurricane has an eye. The force of the surface winds deflects the wind slightly away from the center, causing the wind to rotate around the center of the hurricane, leaving the exact center, the eye, calm. While the storm’s path and strength remain unpredictable, the eye remains constant and peaceful.
The disciples feared the outcome of the storm.
They could not understand how Christ remained calm enough to sleep through the wind and rain. Surely, they would die! Christ slept because He knew He was the calm center. He knew He could calm the sea. When the disciples doubted Christ’s ability to divert the winds of the storm, He rebuked them. They lost their focus in amid a raging storm. They took their eyes off the calm center, Jesus.
In Matthew, although Christ calms the wind and rain, the disciples experienced pain. Once the wind was calm, they were astonished that Christ controlled the wind. They were wet, possibly bruised, most likely cold, but they were calm because Christ became their focus, rather than their circumstances.
At times life feels like a hurricane, tossing us to and fro with hurt, illness, unexpected changes, stress, anxiety, and difficult decisions.
We become so caught up in the chaos that we cannot fathom relief. We may even cry out to God, “How can you let this happen to me?” All we see is the chaos. We do not see the peace available at the center. Christ stands at the center, like the eye of a hurricane, waiting for us to turn our eyes toward Him. He will take the brunt of the wind and rain. Even when the storm continues, He remains calm. When we focus on Him rather than the problems, confusion or pain in our lives, we experience peace. Perhaps the circumstances do not change, but we change in the circumstances.
As an old Hymn reminds us,
“Turn your eyes upon Jesus, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.”
