As the world collectively passes through a storm, what lessons can Jesus’ disciples’ night on the stormy lake teach us? Can there be a blessing within the turmoil?

<p>As the world collectively passes through a storm, what lessons can Jesus’ disciples’ night on the stormy lake teach us? Can there be a blessing within the turmoil?</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Collegedale Korean SDA Church

Alistair Huong

The Blessing of the Storm

Truly what an unusual time we are living in today.

Just a few weeks ago, who would have guessed that we would be worshipping in this type of venue and this type of format online.

But the last few months, everything in the world has changed.

And really, we are passing through a great storm together, collectively, as humanity, as a world, as a nation, as a society.

And really I can't remember a time in my lifetime really that we have as people all together been able to say that we are passing through an experience all in the same boat, the whole world, quite like what we're going through right now.

It reminds me of the world wars that I'm sure our ancestors or maybe some of our parents and grandparents remember some of those types of experiences, but really this is a unique time that we're going through.

And in this storm together, I know a lot of us probably are wondering just what is God's purpose in all of this?

Why would God permit such calamities, such catastrophic events to happen in the world?

And that's really the focus of our study together today.

I want to look in the Bible to see if God has revealed something to us, to see if we can find the blessing that is hidden in the storm.

So I invite you just to bow your heads with me right where you are as we prepare to open God's Word together.

Father in heaven, we come before you today with anxious hearts.

You know the ordeal that the world collectively is passing through, And Lord, we do not look to our human leaders right now.

We don't seek guidance from human sources of wisdom, but we look to you.

And so as we are about to open your word, I pray that your Holy Spirit will speak to us, Give us some word from on high, some encouragement, and help us to see as heaven sees, perhaps even seeing the blessing in the storm.

Guide us in our worship and our study now, we ask in Jesus' name.

So I want to take our minds back to begin this message to a hillside on a peaceful day in Galilee.

Jesus had been teaching the multitude for the whole day, and they'd been listening with rapt attention to every word that has proceeded from his mouth.

And as the day grew long, the disciples urged Jesus to send the people home.

At least go buy some food from the villages around.

There were 5, 000 men besides the women and children who certainly were there and Jesus said to the disciples, you give them something to eat.

Well little lad came forward with his loaves and fishes.

Jesus multiplied the food and fed everybody in that massive crowd.

But it's interesting because during that time when people were sitting around and talking over the food that they were sharing together, there was a little bit of a buzz, some electricity that started to permeate through that crowd.

And what started as a whisper in 1 corner began to gain steam and the people were talking to each other saying, Jesus must be the Messiah.

And if Jesus is the Messiah, he's the son of David.

And if he's the son of David, surely he's the 1 who will restore Israel to its former glory, to the golden age that we had under the rule of King David and King Solomon.

And so the people began to have a collective movement.

They formed a coalition, if you will, to try to crown Jesus as king.

We're actually told exactly how this happened in the book Desire of Ages on page 377 and 378.

The hopes of the people rise higher and higher.

This is He who will make Judea an earthly paradise and the land flowing with milk and honey.

He can break the power of the hated Romans.

He can heal the soldiers who are wounded in battle.

He can conquer the nations and give to Israel the long-sought dominion.

In their enthusiasm, the people are ready at once to crown him king.

Can you imagine what must have been going through that crowd?

That was a large group of people and they were very excited.

They thought this was our chance to finally get rid of those pesky Romans.

Jesus certainly saw the movement that was afoot and Jesus must have had some thought and some opinion about what was going on.

We can read this in the Bible in Matthew chapter 14 verse 22 and 23.

And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship and to go before him unto the other side, the other side of the lake that is, while he sent the multitudes away.

And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray, and when the evening was come, he was there alone." So that's an interesting response by Jesus, was it not?

They were finally, you know, ready to accept Him with their whole hearts at least it seemed that way.

But Jesus immediately stopped the people in their tracks.

And apparently the disciples were part of this crowd and Jesus immediately dispersed the crowd, sent them home, sent the disciples into their boat to set sail across the lake.

In short, Jesus told everyone, okay, in a nice way, it's time for you to get lost.

Jesus knew that nothing good would come out of this movement that the people wanted.

They wanted to crown him the king to overthrow the Romans, but Jesus knew that his mission on earth was not a political 1.

He was not here to foment political revolutions, but he had a spiritual kingdom to set up.

And he knew that if these people got what they wanted, the Roman armies would come in and squash this rebellion and there would be untold devastation and bloodshed.

And his mission would really be retarded in a real way.

And so he realized he had to stop this movement.

He dispersed the crowd, sent them home, sent the disciples down into their boat, and then Jesus did something very interesting.

Now of course that's not what they called it back then and Jesus didn't use those words but in essence Jesus needed to isolate himself from humanity for a period.

You see Jesus understood that in order for him to be able to carry forward the mission that God had given him to accomplish, he needed to be in tune with God.

He needed to be to have communion with the Almighty and the only way that could happen is if he isolated himself from the affairs of men so that he could lock himself, so to say, in the audience chamber with God.

If Jesus needed some time of social isolation, some social distancing, what do you think about you and me?

Do you think that's something that would be important for us too?

To find time quietly on our knees in the audience chamber with God?

In fact, that's actually 1 of the prime lessons that Jesus teaches us in this story.

Why did he send the disciples down into the ship?

Why did he send them down onto the boat to set sail across the lake?

It's because Jesus understood that these disciples needed some quiet time too.

They needed some time away from the crowds, away from the hustle and the bustle, the busyness and the stress of ministry, and they needed some time to think.

And the reason why Jesus realized that they needed time to think is because Jesus could read their hearts and he knew that the disciples were distressed.

They had distractions upon their minds and they were burdened with a great many things And really this is the emphasis of our study today.

What was happening in the hearts and the minds of the disciples and how was God trying to reach them?

You see, Jesus understood that the disciples were part of the crowd and there were some things that they weren't too pleased with about how things ended that day.

So let's take a quick look at what were some of the things that were going on through the disciples' minds.

Let's turn our attention back to the book, Desire of Ages now, and this is on page 379 and 380.

They had left Jesus with dissatisfied hearts, speaking about the disciples now of course, more impatient with him than ever.

Excuse me, more impatient with him than ever before since acknowledging him as their lord.

They murmured because they had not been permitted to proclaim him king.

They blamed themselves for yielding so readily to his command.

They reasoned that if they had been more persistent, they might have accomplished their purpose.

Unbelief was taking possession of their hearts and minds, or their minds and hearts.

They knew that Jesus was hated by the Pharisees, and they were eager to see Him exalted as they thought He should be.

To be united with a teacher who could work mighty miracles and yet to be reviled as deceivers was a trial they could ill endure.

Were they always to be accounted followers of a false prophet?

Would Christ never assert his authority as king?

Why did not he who possessed such power reveal himself in his true character and make their way less painful?

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The Blessing of the Storm

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