How To Get Through A Storm

“Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low; the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places smooth”

Isaiah 40:4


And you thought it was Archimedes who discovered that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line when actually Jesus has been applying that principle in your life and mine from the beginning of time. You recall the story in Luke 8 where Jesus tells the disciples to get into the boat as they are all going over to the other side of the lake. As you read the story you discover that at some point the little boat encounters a tempestuous sea. Since the storm arose suddenly and without notice there was no way for the disciples to navigate around the storm. The only way for them to reach their destination was to go directly through the center of it. Isn’t that just like Jesus regarding the sudden storms we to face in each of our lives. Jesus doesn’t navigate us around the storms of life, He steers us right smack dab in the middle of the storm.

You might be asking yourself why at this point? Why doesn’t Jesus just help us avoid the storms that come our way so that we can enjoy smooth sailing and calm seas? The answer is not that simple but eventually is the same for every scenario. Jesus knows the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. We tend to base our decisions in life on the ease of difficulty. Whatever needs to be done  that involves the least amount of effort, risk or personal investment is often the most appealing route.

Since nothing is too difficult for Jesus the shortest route regardless of how impossible things might appear to you and me is straight through. God has no need to go around. Not even a mob could keep Jesus from fulfilling the will of God. You recall the story in Luke’s gospel (Luke 4) where Jesus gave His first public sermon and read from the book of Isaiah letting the people know that the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him. Let’s just say when Jesus was finished the religious Jews took issue with His sermon and attempted to walk Jesus to an edge of a cliff and throw Him over the edge to His death. Jesus didn’t go around the hostile mob in an attempt to escape. Luke tells us that Jesus took the shortest route and turned around and walked straight back through the crowd and not one person laid a hand on Him to stop Him.

The bottom line is this, God most often doesn’t deliver His children from life’s storms, from the trials that we face almost daily on some level. God most often chooses to deliver us through the trials we face as He walks with us, right by our side. That’s the Good News of the Gospel today and so comforting to know! Whatever you are going through, don’t go it alone. Invite the Lord, call upon His name and walk with Jesus through the storm knowing, you are never ever alone.


“So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff. Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way.”

Luke 4:28-30
 


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