Your Storm Is Teaching You | Lana Bach, COMPASS in the Storm

In Matthew 14, Jesus feeds five thousand men, not counting the women and children, and then sends His disciples out onto the sea while He goes to pray. He knew full well what was waiting for them out there. They had just watched a miracle, they were doing exactly what He told them to do, and they ended up in a storm anyway.

Four of the twelve were fishermen. I have always wondered whether He used the water on purpose, because He knows what each of us will never forget.

What You’ll Hear In This Episode

Peter would never have walked on water if there had been no storm
What the disciples said only after the storm was calmed, and not after the loaves and fish
Why your trial is unique to you, and designed to get you where He wants you
What He was already doing to prepare them before they ever got in the boat

Scripture In This Episode

Matthew 14. The feeding of the five thousand, the storm, and Peter on the water.

Proverbs 3:5-6. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, submit to Him and He will make your path straight.”

Full Transcript

Transcribed from the episode audio. Names, places and scripture references have been corrected, and caption noise has been removed.

In Matthew 14, Jesus feeds 5,000 men with just five loaves and two fish. And the 5,000 is not even including women and children in the count. And then Jesus makes disciples go into the boat to the other side of the sea while he went and prayed. Jesus, knowing full well what was going to happen, sent the disciples into a storm. The disciples were probably asking themselves, “Hey, we are doing exactly what Jesus asked us to do and now we’re in the storm?”

So, they needed to experience the storm for some reason. I believe that Jesus allowed them to experience the storm so it would increase their faith. Peter, the one who wanted to experience the supernatural, walked on the water. Would he have experienced that if there had not been a storm? Even Even when he was sinking, the Lord displayed that he will not let us sink.

He will be there to hold us up. So, after Peter made steps toward the Lord and Jesus took him back to the boat, it was only then that the Lord commanded the storm to stop. The storm had accomplished what needed to be done in the lives of the disciples because it was at that point, after he calmed the storm, that they said, “You truly are the Son of God.” But wait, they had just seen the miracle of the five loaves and the two fishes that fed probably over 10,000 people. Maybe God had to use the storm at sea to get their attention in a different way.

He used the storm to build their faith, but it took the storm in order to display the calming of the storm. I find it interesting that four of the 12 disciples were fishermen. Could it be that he used the water and the sea to make them never forget what just happened? The Lord knows how each of us function as individuals. He knows how to speak to you.

He knows what makes you tick. Your trial is unique to you. It’s designed to get you to where he wants you to be. The disciples only had to ride out the storm. They didn’t know that Jesus was going to appear in that miraculous way walking on the water and then calm the storm.

I’m sure it was very difficult for them not to be afraid. But the Lord had already prepared them by showing them miracles of healing, provision, and so many other miracles. Yet they still became afraid in their storm. God will not allow you to go through a storm without preparing you for it and walking with you through it. He will not let you sink.

Proverbs 3:5 and 6 tell us, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, submit to him and he will make your path straight.” With Jesus in control of your life, friend, just remember, he walks with you and he will not let you sink. He’ll get you back to shore. God bless you and remember, stay the course.