"The "I" of the Storm"
The “I” of the Storm
Matthew 14:27 “Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.”
If there is one thing for certain, it is that we will have storms in our lives. Job said it this way in Job 14:1, “Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.” My Dad once said, “we are either in a storm, coming out of a storm, or going into a storm.” We read in the Bible of a time when the disciples found themselves in a major storm, and Jesus came and began to speak to them. Matthew 14:27 records Jesus when He says, “it is I; be not afraid.” He was the “I” of the storm!
The hurricanes we experienced last year caught my attention, and I began to study a few things about the eye of the storm.
The eye is the center of the storm. When we think about the storms in our lives, it sure is good to know that Jesus can be with us in the center of our storms. These disciples were afraid of losing their lives in a terrible storm in the middle of the night. When it seems the darkest and you think you are almost at the end of your road, it’s good to know that Jesus can be in the center of your storm!
The eye is the controller of the storm. The eye controls the path, the strength, and the length of the storm. As I think about this and relate it to the storms in our lives, it sure is good to know that Jesus, the “I” in the storm, controls what’s going on around us. There have been times in my life that I really wondered if God was anywhere around! The disciples, in Matthew 14, no doubt thought that Jesus had forgotten about them. But I promise you, He knew exactly where they were. You see, it is the “I” that controls the storms in our lives.
The eye is the calm of the storm. “The eye is a region of mostly calm weather at the center of strong tropical cyclones. The eye of a storm is a roughly circular area, typically 30–65 km (20–40 miles) in diameter. It is surrounded by the eyewall, a ring of towering thunderstorms where the most severe weather and highest winds occur.” (Wikipedia) I find it interesting that the most severe weather is just before reaching the eye of the storm. You may feel that you are going down for the last time and the storm is about to take you out, but I have really, really good news!!! You may be getting ready to find the “I” of the storm. The very thing that Peter feared in this passage of scripture, he ended up walking on!
“I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship.” Louissa May Alcott
You can read the whole story in Matthew 14:22-33.