BY LARRY D. BLACK
The following is a condensation of a sermon preached to
a gathering of Adventist military chaplains in May 2004.The
message is based on Matthew 8:23-27.—Editors.
LL DAY LONG, FROM EARLY MORNING to late evening, Jesus had
been teaching beside the Sea of Galilee, explaining to the people the nature
of His kingdom and the manner in which it was to be established. And now, utterly
wearied at the close of the day, He determined to seek retirement in some solitary
place across the lake.
Relieved from the pressure of the crowd and overcome with weariness,
Jesus lay down in the stern of the boat and went to sleep. The evening was calm
and pleasant, and quiet rested upon the lake.
Suddenly, however, darkness overspread the sky, the wind swept
wildly down the mountain gorges, and a fierce tempest burst upon the lake.
Without Warning
There had been no forecast that bad weather was approaching. No atmospheric
conditions indicated a hurricane was in the making. But like an eagle swooping
down from a blue sunlit sky for its morning meal, the gale-force winds whipped
and lashed the water into a furious windstorm. And before the disciples realized
what was going on, their little boat was way out in the water battling with
a headwind and a rough sea. The waves, lashed into fury by the howling winds,
dashed fiercely over their boat, threatening to engulf it. Peter, Andrew, James,
and John had spent their entire lives upon the lake and had guided their craft
safely through many a storm, but now their strength and skill availed nothing.
They felt helpless in the grasp of the tempest, and hope failed as they saw
their boat filling up with water.
My brothers and sisters, that's the way life is. Like the Sea
of Galilee, it can turn chaotic. Its calm can become a great storm in a moment.
Every day is not stormy, but storms do come. Disruptive winds of distress, disappointments,
and defeat agitate the sea of our lives. Disruptive winds make unwelcome visits
to our front doors. Things will be going smoothly and quietly along their course.
We get promoted on time, receive good assignments, and enjoy a favorable work
environment. But all of a sudden, without warning, things start falling to pieces,
becoming unglued. And without warning we're in a storm.
Like the disciples, we often try to get ourselves out of our
situation. We grab the control. We call the detailer complaining. We notify
our endorser that we're not happy. We get an attorney and file a lawsuit in
an effort to fight the battles in our lives. We don't immediately think about
God because we believe we can handle things ourselves.
Why Disruptive Winds?
Everybody experiences rebellious winds. If you haven't had them, just keep on
living. Why do they come?
Well, sometimes we're at fault. There are certain situations
that we bring upon ourselves. When we take convenient duty assignments over
arduous ones, we're stirring up difficult winds. When we try to politic our
way to the top instead of trusting God, we're stirring up disruptive winds.
When we don't do a good job with the assignment we've been given, we're stirring
up disruptive winds. When we manipulate and connive and control things that
we shouldn't, we're stirring up rebellious winds.
But not all disruptive winds are of our making. Some are of
unexplained origin. They come out of nowhere, striking us unjustly, illogically,
and at random—fiendishly created to blow against the will of God. The wind
that blew against the disciples came while they were doing what God told them
to do.
In other words, you don't have to be wrong or bad to encounter
a disruptive wind. You may just be minding your own business, doing your own
job, obeying legitimate orders, acting in faithfulness to God, doing the best
things in the right way for the right reason.
In fact, sometimes we run into trouble precisely because we're
doing what's right. The opposition of people is often good evidence of the approval
of God. Nobody is going to oppose you for being nothing or trying to have nothing.
Not many will oppose you for standing for nothing, or criticize you for doing
nothing. If people are degrading you and talking about you and demeaning you
and casting your name out for evil, that may be a good indication that you're
on the right track, that you're doing something right. If you're following Jesus,
you'll have some enemies. If you're doing the right thing, you'll stir up some
dissension. Whatever you do in the name of Jesus will create opposition.
If you have no trouble, no stress, no problems, no enemies,
no foes—if you make everybody glad and nobody mad, maybe you'd better check
yourself against the claims of Jesus. If everybody approves of what you're doing,
you're not doing anything. If everybody likes what you're saying, you're not
saying anything. It's in the nature of things that storms will materialize and
blow against those who're in the will of God.
People in trouble sometimes ask, "What did I do to deserve
this?" And I tell them, "Nothing." You've got to realize that
we live in a fallen creation. We live in a demonic world where the devil is
roaming to and fro. Therefore, in this world justice will be opposed, truth
slandered, right challenged, and the innocent found guilty.
Three Things to Note
1. It's the will of God that we face the dangers and tribulations that
come by way of disruptive winds. For it's in turbulent seas that our faith is
strengthened.
You see, faith does not flourish well in fair weather. It flourishes
in hard times when we realize we can depend on nothing and nobody but God. As
long as the weather is fair, as long as things are going well, as long as things
are going our way, we'll be tempted to believe we're self-sufficient or that
other people can supply our needs. It takes stormy winds, darkened skies, agitated
clouds, and stirred-up water to activate and motivate our faith in God. It was
not until Joseph was thrown into a pit and locked up in prison that he was ready
to become a leader. We need fierce winds to make our faith deeper, to make our
hope stronger, to make our belief firmer.
2. Disruptive winds help correct our value system and
straighten out our misplaced priorities. Some of us are too prone to put popularity
over principle, to confuse the end with the means, to exalt the material over
the spiritual, to elevate the creature over the Creator, to place our plans
over God's purposes.
We're spiritually off balance until we're corrected and straightened
by a rough experience with disruptive winds. We're selfish, prejudiced, uncaring,
unsympathetic, unspiritual, until disruptive winds come and make us warm and
loving in our hearts and attitudes toward all God's children. Fierce-blowing
winds have a way of changing our feelings of egotism into attitudes of altruism.
3. We need fierce-blowing winds to use as a vehicle
to take us where we'd never go if left entirely on our own. We need a hard wind
to take us to a blessing that's greater than any blessing we have wisdom enough
to seek, or faith enough to pray for.
As long as the wind is mild, we'll sail through life according
to our plans. But when the wind turns hard and blows against us, we're forced
off our chosen path, ending up where we never expected to be. But at that unscheduled
port we'll find a blessing that we never would have received if it hadn't been
for that hard-blowing wind that took us out of our will and put us in God's
will.
When We Struggle
Sometimes the wind is too strong to ride—look at the disciples bouncing
around in that little boat. When that happens, we need to stop trying to do
it our way and wait on the Lord. It may be too tough for us, but it's never
too tough for God. Jesus will wake up and offer words of assurance. Thank
God, He's a right-now God! He's a present help in trouble. He can calm disruptive
winds.
Look at the disciples struggling on the water, rocking like
an unsecured buoy in a rebellious sea, the lightning flashing in the ebony backdrop
of the angry sky. If there ever was a need for divine deliverance, here was
one. If there ever was a hopeless case, here was one. If ever people were about
to die, here they were.
But suddenly, in the midst of the flashing lightning and rolling
thunder, they saw Jesus lying asleep in the stern of the ship. "Master,"
they cried out, "carest thou not that we perish?"
Jesus was so exhausted that the rough ride didn't wake Him; the howling winds
didn't wake Him; the overflowing waters didn't wake Him. But when His disciples
called out, Jesus—King of kings and Lord of lords, hope of the hopeless,
help of the helpless— heard their cry and immediately was awake. Seeing
their fear, He stood up in the middle of the boat and told the wind to "shut
up" and the sea to "lie down." And they obeyed!
"What manner of man is this," cried His agitated
followers, "that even the winds and the waves obey Him?"
"Why are you fearful?" Jesus said. "I am the
Creator of heaven and earth. I am the sustainer of every living thing. I am
Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end, and when
I command, all creation obeys."
Folks, are you going through the storm, struggling through
the night, fighting against disruptive winds? I just stopped by to tell you
that when the storms rage, when the rains fall, when the winds blow, when dark
clouds gather round you, when enemies assail you, when foes come upon you, have
faith in God. "God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform; He
plants His footsteps in the sea, and rides upon the storm."*
I know a God who can make the sea stand still. I know a God
who can bring you through the storm, through the night, through sickness, through
heartbreak, through hardship. If it's sickness, He can heal it. If it's a burden,
He can lift it. If it's trouble, He can use it. If it's a mountain, He can move
it. If it's death, He can beat it. If it's a storm, He can calm it. I know a
God who can handle disruptive winds.
_________________________
*William Cowper, The Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal, No.
107.
_________________________
Larry D. Black is an active-duty Navy chaplain currently assigned as the
command chaplain at the Naval Air Engineering Station in Lakehurst, New Jersey.
