Show Yourself Strong

Sometimes we need to see the Lord work, we need reassurance that He is who he says He is. God is powerful and mighty, He is strong to save, the defender and protector of His people. These statements are true and it is good to reminder ourselves of them, but sometimes we need God to show Himself strong, to remind us of His might and power. We need to experience His might at work in our own lives.

Though this reminder, this display of God’s strength, might be what we need, even something we deeply desire and pray for, the way God shows His power might not be something we like, at least not initially. For it is in our weakness that we most clearly see God’s strength. It is in challenges and circumstances beyond our control and those that feel beyond our capacity to bear that we are most ready to rely on God.

In the famous scripture passage of Jesus calming the storm, one of the salient points is that there was in fact a storm. “A squall blew over the lake, and they were taking on water and were in danger.” (Luke 8:23). The disciples were in danger, Matthew’s gospel calls it “a violent storm.” In the midst of the stormy sea, knowing themselves to be in danger, the disciples were afraid. Please bear in mind, Jesus was with them, in the boat, physically with them, and yet they were afraid. It wasn’t a fear they could talk themselves out of or reason away. The did not tell themselves that it was going to be okay because Jesus was there, and they could trust him. They had by this point seen him do many mighty works, so they had reason to be confident in Him, but they didn’t just lean into that confidence and trust it would all work out. Instead, they cried out to Jesus. “They came and woke him, saying ‘Lord, save us! We are perishing!’” (Matt 8:25) They begged God to save them, and in Mark’s gospel there is this beautiful line, “’Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’” (Mark 4:38)

It may seem audacious, even disrespectful for Jesus’s disciples to question whether or not He cares that they are perishing, but I think it is beautifully, refreshingly human, and honest. It was the unfiltered, genuine cry of their heart in a time of terror. It is an example that we do not need to be ashamed to follow, to cry out to God, begging Him to save us, to show Himself strong, and to reassure us that He does in fact care how we are faring.

When we do so we will see God work, for it is when the waves are the roughest that God’s power and might are most evident. At times, if we want to know God’s strength in a real and irrefutable way, we must endure stormy seas. Enduring well the storms that God allows does not however necessarily mean sitting back and holding on until the weather changes. We can be bold, following the example of the Apostles, crying out, “Lord, save us!”