“MASTER THE TEMPEST IS RAGING” 3rd of 4 In A Series For June

THE CALM
Jesus awoke, saw the situation and rebuked the wind and sea. Just as there had been a great (megas) storm, there was now an equally great (megas) calm. Jesus spoke to the storm “peace (pephimoso),” which means “to muzzle” as one would strap leather around the snout of a dog to silence his barks. Thus muzzled, both wind and sea “ceased (epausanto)” (Luke 8:24). The same word is used in 1 Peter 4:1 in which one is to have “ceased from sin.” One is not to cease from sin in a gradual tapering off, but rather is to halt from sinning from that moment forward. Such an amazing and unnatural cessation of a storm is also made evident by the reaction of the men–they marveled. They who were experienced with wind and water knew this was not the natural manner of the dying of a storm. There was always the waving agitation of water until equalization was achieved. Wind would die down–not stop. They knew that is was not mere coincidence that a storm had ended naturally when Jesus had spoken. Rather, they knew that the winds and waves obeyed His will. Yes, Jesus calmed the storm.
The lesson that is being taught cannot possibly be missed: Jesus can give us calm in the midst of our storms! As we suffer our storms of illness, accidents, bereavements and heartaches, Jesus can still the tempest. This is not to say the He will bring our loved ones back to life, restore the damage done to our body by disease or accident, or any other such mending by supernatural means. Rather, it does mean, as we go through these storms, He can calm the storm within.
Although Jesus was in the same boat and in the same storm, He slept peacefully. Thus, Jesus showed us that we too, if we faithfully follow Him, can likewise have this peace within as we go through our storms of life. Notice carefully what He told us in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” Here, Jesus assures us that we can have the same peace that He had. As He had peace in the storm, so can we.
Without doubt, Peter was one of the men who was in the boat at sea. Did Peter, the panicky, learn this peace? Did Peter receive this peace that Jesus said He would give? Years later, Peter was in prison and was about to be executed (Acts 12). Was he panicking as he had done so in the boat? No. He was sleeping peacefully in the midst of danger–just as had Jesus in the boat! What a change! Same man; same kind of storm (life-threatening); but he handled it differently. Yes, Peter obtained the peace that Jesus had and gave, and so can you.
Gary Henson