Wednesday's "What's God been teaching me?" #9

In ISCF this week, a teacher at my school led our group in a Bible study on the passage in Mark 4:35-41. It was a great study and God really spoke to me through it. Just so you know what’s going on, I’ll let you read these couple verses:

³⁵That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, "Let us go over to the other side." ³⁶Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. ³⁷A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. ³⁸Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?" ³⁹He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. ⁴⁰He said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?" ⁴¹They were terrified and asked each other, "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!"

One of the discussion questions was this:

What do you do when “storms” come up in your life?

1. turn to a person I can trust
2. turn to God
3. act like nothing is wrong
4. get touchy and irritable
5. take charge of things
6. panic

I’d never really thought about this before! I came to the conclusion that when a “storm” comes up in my life, I usually begin by panicking, then I try and take charge of things, then I make a mess, become touchy and irritable, and end up hurting others. After all this I turn to God and ask for help to bail me out and heal the hurt I’ve caused. Wow, what a revelation!

A girl in our group named Kallie shared what she does when a “storm” comes in to her life. She says she goes to her room, shuts the door, and cries her face off for a good 10 minutes. After that she picks up the Bible and reads through some Psalms. David’s ability to praise God through whatever “storms” he encounters comforts her and helps her to give her feelings to God. She then prays, talking and listening to God, until she feels ok enough to share with someone she can trust.

I was so impressed hearing how Kallie is able to go straight to God when a “storm” hits and conviction set in heavy for me. I realized that I need to train myself to go immediately to God when I encounter “storms” in my life. By doing so I would save myself the needless panic and I wouldn’t end up making messes and hurting others.

It also dawned on me that the most important aspect of “turning to God” when a “storm” hits is faith. Notice what Jesus says to the disciples after he calms the storm. He says, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?" Jesus makes it clear that the disciples were afraid because they didn’t have faith that they would be safe in the storm.

I asked myself, “Can I trust God through a storm no matter how bad it seems?” I decided that I need to cultivate a better understanding of God’s faithfulness through His Word. As I see how God has been faithful to the people in the Bible and faithful to me I need to remember that God is the same faithful God even through a “storm”. Then it will be a lot easier for me to run to Him immediately and trust that He has everything in control. Just to make it easier to actually do this I developed a little reminder for myself. I called it the SRS:

Storm Response System

Carefully watch for “storms” When a “storm” hits, go to God: In prayer (Philippians 4:6-7) In faith (Mark 4:35-41)(Psalm 62:8) In truth (Psalm 19:7-8) In submission (Romans 8:6

So far it’s working pretty well! Well that’s what I learned this week. I hope God speaks to you through it! God bless you all!

Love,

Your brother in Christ,

Joshua