3 Reasons Not to Fear the Storms of Life

As a child growing up in the Midwest, we often experienced violent thunderstorms and at times even tornados. It was always comforting for me to run to my parents’ room and find peace and safety in their arms because I trusted them to keep me safe. Storms naturally cause fear, but just like my parents comforted my fears as a child, we can trust God to be with us and lead us through the storms. ​

​​My problem in the storms of life is that I often respond as the disciples did in Mark 4:35-41. Let’s set the scene. In the verses preceding this account, Jesus has been teaching the disciples truths about Himself through parables. The lessons have been taught “in the classroom” and now Jesus is going to test their understanding and application of what He has just been teaching. The test is really that immediate since Mark says in verse 35 that this happened “the same day.” 

Don’t be surprised by a test of your faith after God has taught you something from His Word! God wants us to know Him and truths about Him, but He also wants us to practice the faith He builds in us. One major way He does that is through storms in life. Storms are not always evidence of disobedience in a person’s life. In fact, the disciples were obeying Jesus when He told them to get in the boat to go to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. The storm came upon them in a time of complete obedience. Did Jesus know the storm was coming when He put those disciples in the boat? ABSOLUTELY! By the end of the account, the disciples are proclaiming His command of the weather and nature itself. That wasn’t the point of the miracle. Jesus was trying to see if they would trust Him IN the storm.

Storms on the Sea of Galilee can be especially sudden and violent, but that does not mean that the disciples had to fear. Warren Wiersbe, in his commentary on Mark entitled Be Diligent, states three reasons these experienced fishermen should not have feared, even though the storm was threatening and strong.

1. Jesus promised they would reach the other side. 

"On that day, when evening had come, He said to them, 'Let us go across to the other side.'” Mark 4:35

He didn’t say maybe we’ll make it if the storm isn’t too bad. He definitively told them to get in the boat so they could go to the other side. God always enables us to do what He commands us to do. Philippians 1:6 says that Jesus is faithful to complete in us what He calls us to do. 

That is not a promise of sunshine and cloudless skies, but it is a promise that He will walk through the storm with us to complete what He tells us to do. What has God commanded you to do that you are not doing because of the fear of difficulty or storm?

2. Jesus was with them in the boat!

Why were they so fearful in the storm when Jesus was right there with them? I might understand their fear had He put them in the boat, waving to them with words of “Good Luck” in the storm without me. But God never does that to us. He promises to walk through the deep waters with us (Isaiah 43:2), and even through the valley of death (Psalm 23:4), He promises to be with us. Hebrews 13:5b expresses an extremely strong statement in the Greek of His promise to never, never, never, never, never leave us. Why do we fear when He is always with us? ​

3. Jesus was perfectly at peace in the midst of the storm. 

We know that Jesus was asleep in the back of the boat while this horrible storm was raging. What a picture of PERFECT peace! Jesus was completely resting in God’s will for His life and was at rest. Psalm 4:8 says, “I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep for thou, LORD, only makest me to dwell in safety.” 

The disciples were perplexed and almost incredulous at Jesus’ being asleep while they were at the point of death, they thought. How often in life do we stoop to the “depths of despair” thinking that no one, not even God, cares? Does He care about our struggles? Of course, He does. He calmed the storm, the winds, and the waves with His words because He cared for the faithless disciples. But the storm wasn’t their biggest problem. The biggest problem was their heart of unbelief! Wiersbe made this profound statement: “Our greatest problems are within us, not around us.” Are you lacking peace in your life because of a heart of unbelief?

This was only one of many lessons that Jesus taught His disciples, but I see myself needing this lesson so often in my life. God’s Word is overflowing with promises that should help me walk through the storms of life, but I must be in the Word, knowing what it says and then putting into practice the truths I have learned. I must constantly be fighting against a heart of unbelief when I see the tempest raging around me. My God can be trusted! But I have to know Him in order to trust Him. How can we weather the storms of life without crippling fear unless we know the One Who is in the boat with us? May God help us to learn from the disciples’ mistakes and seek to know God more so we can trust Him in the midst of the storm!

How have you learned to trust God more through the storms of life?