Stormy waters

Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.

During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It's a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid." "Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water." "Come," he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!" Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?" And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshipped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God" (Matthew 14:22-33a).

When I was young, my family lived in a city along Lake Michigan. My hometown of Manitowoc was a port city; every day, car ferries would come and go from the harbor. These were large ships; mostly what they carried were railroad cars. When a ship came into port, the captain would turn the vessel around and back up to the dock; once made secure, the stern of the ship would open and the workers would fill the hull with loaded train cars.

But car ferries also transported passengers, along with their vehicles. You see, Lake Michigan is fairly narrow—only about 100 miles across—but it is over 300 miles long. When I was a child, many people would rather sail across Lake Michigan than drive around it, so car ferries were an attractive alternative for people traveling between Wisconsin and Michigan.

Have you ever been out in a boat during a storm? I have. One summer, my family took a car ferry across the lake to visit relatives in Michigan. We left at 11:00 pm and were scheduled to arrive at 3:00 am. Since we were traveling during the night, we had a cabin to sleep in. But Lake Michigan was stormy that evening; as big as that car ferry was, waves were soon breaking over the deck and splashing against the windows of the observation lounge. My parents had a terrible time sleeping; they were worried about the ship capsizing, and the constant rolling of the deck made them nauseous.

But I slept fine. I didn’t get sick, and I was too little to understand that we might be in danger. When we disembarked in the morning, one of the crew said that I must be a natural sailor. Actually, I think that’s funny, because to this day I still can’t swim!

From ancient times, water travel has always been dangerous. Storms at sea can be terrifying and are often deadly. So when writers of long ago wanted to describe chaos and danger in a powerful way, they often compared such abstract ideas to a stormy sea. Anyone reading their words felt an immediate gut reaction to such a metaphor, just as mid-westerners perk up their ears when someone says "it looks like a tornado hit this room." Just as we in the Midwest have an emotional response to tornado imagery, so did the people of the Bible have an emotional response to the image of stormy seas.

This helps us to understand some passages in the Bible. In the first chapter of Genesis, listen to how Moses describes the earth at the beginning: The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. This is poetic language; before God started creating, there was nothing but chaotic darkness, something we can’t really comprehend. And so Moses uses imagery that provokes an emotional response in his readers—he compares that primordial chaos to a stormy sea, something fearsome and dangerous that the human mind can understand.

This same imagery shows up again in Revelation. In Chapter 13 we read: the dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. Here, Satanic evil is described as coming from the sea, from the chaos that seeks to destroy what God has made. And in Revelation chapter 21, John is shown the wonderful future which will come after Christ has made all things new: Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. There was no longer any sea—in other words, when Jesus remakes everything in perfection, there will be no chaos, no danger.

Now, do not misunderstand—the Bible does not speak of water as a bad thing. It is the stormy sea that represents chaos and danger. Water, on the other hand, is a good thing. God used water to flood the earth at the time of Noah, but the purpose was to cleanse the world of evil; Peter even compares the great flood to baptism: Only eight people were saved from drowning in that terrible flood. And that water is a picture of baptism, which now saves you (1 Peter 3:20-21).

In the Bible, water is a wonderful gift from the Almighty. When combined with God’s Word, water becomes baptism, a spiritual cleansing; in Acts chapter 22 we are told, be baptized and wash your sins away. And when Jesus discusses spiritual life, He speaks of it as life-giving water; in John chapter 7 our Lord says, Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, `Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.' This was demonstrated graphically on Good Friday when Jesus perished for our sins; John records, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water (John 19:34). This happened as a visual demonstration that living waters do indeed flow from the Savior’s heart, and this is picked up again in Revelation chapter 22 as the new creation is described: Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. Jesus the Lamb of God is the source of living water in both this world and the next.

Jesus is the source of living water, water that gives new life and strength to all who come and drink from it, an inexhaustible source of refreshment that will last forever. But once again, this is a word picture. Just as stormy seas represent chaos, so does living water represent something else. John tells us, When he said "living water," he was speaking of the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in him (John 7:38).

All this talk about water draws our attention to the Holy Spirit. In Genesis the Spirit was there, ready to bring order out of chaos: the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. In baptism, the Spirit comes to us, as Peter explains in the book of Acts chapter two: Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Through the Spirit, Jesus creates faith in our hearts, makes it possible for us to believe that His blood shed on the cross can and will absolve us from all guilt and make us acceptable to God. 1st Corinthians chapter six says, you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. Through baptism, the Spirit brings order out of chaos, removing from our hearts the love of sin and replacing it with a love for God’s holy laws.

Every gardener knows that water is essential to maintain life; thus we need the living water of the Holy Spirit constantly flowing through us to keep us spiritually healthy. But you also know what can happen to a flowerbed if a severe storm tears things up; such chaos brings destruction. Our God brings order out of chaos; He calms stormy seas. Yet we are often reluctant to trust Him; when storms come, we become needlessly fearful. Mark chapter 4 provides just one example: A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 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?" The Lord was right there in the boat with them, yet they still panicked—when Jesus did not take immediate action to fix things, they accused Him of not caring about them.

Even when we do trust Jesus, the chaos in our lives can still distract us and drag us down. The incident of Peter walking on the water is a perfect example. So long as his focus was on the Lord, Peter was fine. But the moment that he let his attention drift to the chaos around him, he became afraid—he lost faith. Immediately he began sinking. Peter would have drowned had Jesus not quickly reached out and supported him.

This is why we need the Spirit of God. We don’t trust the Lord as we should; we allow ourselves to become distracted by the chaos that rages all around us. We need to be reminded that our Lord is always with us; we need to be reminded that He makes it possible to rise above worry and walk with confidence at His side. Out of chaos, God made an ordered universe filled with love and perfection. When our sin brought storminess into His creation, God sent His Son to bring peace and restore us with the living water of the Holy Spirit. When our Master returns at the end, He will recreate our world in the lost image of paradise—a place where there is no longer any chaos wrought by sin. The Spirit reminds us that God is more powerful than the forces of destruction, that He brings peace and safety to the most dangerous of places. When our mouths go dry in fear, the Spirit is sweet water on our lips, revitalizing us and giving us new life in Jesus' name.

When I crossed Lake Michigan on that stormy night, I wasn’t afraid because I trusted the captain and my parents to keep me safe. When your life is filled with storms, may God’s Spirit fill you with confidence in the Father’s love and the Savior’s power to keep you safe no matter how scary things might seem. Storms will come, but Jesus has ended them before and He will continue to end them. In the meantime, trust in His call to walk safely at His side.