Don't do what I did!
I have spent so many of my days telling God how big the storm I was facing. I told Him as if He didn't already know. It never once occurred to me that He already knew and that maybe He was waiting for me to tell the storm how big my God was!
He wasn't the one needing to be reminded of how able He was, how great He was and how unrestricted His reach was. It was me.
I remember one particular morning, desperate and scared, telling God how big everything was and that I honestly didn't know if we were going to make it out of this one. I was sure that this was going to be the storm that was going to consume us. I was mad.
How hadn't God seen any of this and why hadn't He got involved? Why didn't He think I was worth saving?
"Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”
He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?" – Mark 4:38-40
Jesus knew how big the storm was, but the disciples didn’t know how big He was. Compared to Jesus, the storm was like a small pebble. It was nothing, but in that moment, it consumed them.
I can identify with them.
My faith has been so small and my fear has crippled me to a point where I could see if we would actually come out the other side.
It’s taken me close to 40yrs to personally understand this verse for myself, and see it as a gift. I used to think God was angry with me for being scared, I’ve learnt He was anything but! He loved me SO MUCH that He allowed those storms to come.
He knew not one would consume me, or my us. But I didn’t.
“And give no opportunity to the devil” – Eph 4:27
I didn’t know how big He was.
I didn’t know how able He was.
I didn’t know how powerful He was.
I didn’t know how loving He was.
I didn’t know how faithful He was.
Because of that storm I shared with at the start, and many after, I started to see who He was. There’s something powerful when we understand how powerful God is, and how much power He has given us.
“God is greater than the giants you face” 1 John 4:4
Not every storm will pass by us simply saying “go”, but it won’t be bigger than God. God tells us to give Him our cares, and think He does that so we can then get on with living a life He always hoped we would.
