Calming The Storm Inside

Calming the Storm Inside

Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith? Mark 4:40

IT’S NORMAL TO BE AFRAID in the midst of a terrifying, boat-tossing, wave-crashing storm. Human physiology and emotions were designed for self-protection, and when our safety is threatened, fear provokes action. Yet Jesus asked his followers why they were so afraid—why, in light of the greater truth of God’s presence and love, they reacted more strongly to the situation they saw with their eyes. From a fallen human perspective, the fear seems obvious, thoroughly based in reality. From heaven’s perspective, it isn’t reality at all—or at least not the reality that matters most.

Jesus was able to sleep in the boat and calm the storm because the peace inside him was stronger than the storm outside. Our inner environment always trumps our outer environment if we let it; the spiritual realities of this world are stronger and more significant than natural forces. Sure, natural forces can overturn a boat or cover us with thundering waves, but they don’t rule our destiny or dictate our relationship with God, and they don’t defy his promises and purposes. Yet we so often let the natural environment dictate our inner condition, as if the circumstances we see are bigger and stronger than God’s words to us. We seem to think the situations we face are greater than God’s plan.

They aren’t. God has a plan for us, and trusting him is a necessary part of carrying it out. Faith in God is powerful because God himself is powerful. When we conform to the image of the worried, stressed, insecure, panicking people around us, we are moving in the wrong direction. We must conform instead to Jesus, the Prince of Peace. The way we handle our worries at any given moment tells us volumes about what we think of God. If they are calmed by the voice of faith, we are becoming like Jesus and growing into God’s purposes. If they are not, something needs to change. And we have the tools for that—the example and the will to stand up, speak to the storms with confidence, and tell them to be at peace. Those words have power, and they strengthen the peace inside of us to become greater than the storms outside.

The cure of fear is faith.