Our Christian faith is secure only when we recognize and live daily with the assurance that God is always with us, even in the storms of life.

We Must Learn to Recognize Jesus

• The disciples had lived with Jesus. They knew Him in a very personal and intimate manner. Yet from this incident we understand there was a moment when they did not recognize Him.

• Does it happen with us? Are there those times, those unexpected circumstances of our lives in which we simply do not recognize the Master’s presence?

• After all, is it not easier to be conscious of God when in church? Perhaps easier to be aware of Him when on our knees in prayer, or when engaged in those obvious Christian duties such as witnessing or ministering to the sick?

• But what of the night? What of the darkness? What of the lonely moments, the totally personal struggles, the times when our hearts yearn to reach out and touch someone else and there is no one there? What of the trying times? What of the storms? Are we then able to recognize Jesus?

• The disciples did not! They were too wrapped up in the struggle of the moment. They saw the tossing waves. They felt the threat of death. They heard the wind, saw the lightning, felt the pelting rain. But they did not recognize the Lord.

• So I emphasize: We must learn to recognize God.

• Life has a way of teaching us. Life has a way of reminding us. Just when we think all is running smoothly, all is well, all is under control; then comes the startling realization that storm clouds are blowing over. Just as we think we have solved the last problem, or taken care of the last pressing need, that’s when the mailman arrives, or that’s when the telephone rings, or that’s when we discover a child is sick. No matter how often we have been down the road, there are yet surprises. We still have more to learn.

• Such is life.

• The disciples were about to learn the greatest lesson they would ever receive, the truth of Jesus in the storm. They knew Jesus already as the supplier of their needs. They had witnessed Him pay taxes with money from a fish’s mouth. They knew He could multiply loaves and fishes, that He spoke words of life, that He had power over the works of the devil. They knew Him as a great teacher. Still, never having met Jesus in a storm, they did not recognize Him. All too often we make the same mistake.

• We believe Jesus for our salvation and for the forgiveness of our sins. We look to Him as the supplier of all our needs. We trust Him to bring us into glory one day. But when everything is falling apart, we find it difficult to see Jesus.

• We can’t seem to believe that He would allow a storm to teach us how to trust Him. We are never quite sure He is nearby when things really get rough. The ship is now tossing. It appears to be sinking, winds are blowing. Everything is going contrary and it seems all hope is lost. The Bible says:

Matthew 14:25–27 ESV

And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea.

But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear.

But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”

We Must Learn to Cope with Our Fears

• Fear! It is a destructive force that plagues each of us at certain times. Of course, some fear is normal. It helps us survive certain dangers.

• For example, the fear of walking out in front of a car, or the fear of falling off a tall building—these are normal fears. They function for a noteworthy purpose.

• Let us look at a dictionary definition of fear: “an emotion excited by threatening evil or impending pain, accompanied by a desire to avoid or escape; apprehension; dread; uneasiness about a thing; horror; alarm; terror; dismay and fright.” Most of us have known fear in these varying shades of meaning.

• But fear is also a spiritual force. It can actually destroy us if we yield to it.

• Fear is not of God. God is not the author of fear. God does not send fear upon His people. He made all things. He sustains all things. He holds the key to all things. He is in charge of all things.

• God Himself knows no fear. What could there be for Him to fear? The Word of God proves that He has nothing to fear. Therefore, His children really have nothing to fear. Note these words:

Psalm 62:11 ESV

Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God,

Matthew 28:18 ESV

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

• What I am trying to get across is that Jesus has done all these things before us and yet we do not really see Him in the storms of life. Many in the church family have seen God move in their lives in such a way that no one but God could have done it, yet we have trouble following Jesus all the time.

• We seem to forget that the Scriptures tell us:

Psalm 37:23–24 ESV

The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in his way;

though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds his hand.

• If the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and if God upholds the good man with His hand, then He must be here with us all the time! He has never been far away. We have never been out of His sight. When all seems to be going wrong, He yet has control.

• We are so often like the disciples, not one of whom recognized Jesus when He came walking on the water. It could be that we believe and expect Jesus to be at the Samaritan well, or in the Temple driving out the money changers. We expect Him one day to be at the right hand of the Father, to make us kings and priests. But never do we expect Him to be with us in the storm!

• For the disciples, that storm was just an act of nature, an unexpected disaster, a tragic accident of fate, an unwanted and unnecessary trial, a lonely and fearful journey into despair. It was a night to be forgotten.

• If we could only remember:

Psalm 107:29 ESV

He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed.

Isaiah 4:6 ESV

There will be a booth for shade by day from the heat, and for a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain.

• Paul tells us:

Acts 17:28 ESV

for “ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “ ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’

2 Timothy 1:7 ESV

for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

• With God living in us, fully, there is no room for fear. We must discover in Him and through His Holy Spirit the power to cope with fear in all its many expressions.