The Gentle South Winds are not Gentle

Dear lovely people,

Fact: life is a storm sometimes and so storms will always come and go in your life.  When trouble strikes, we sometimes forget our knowledge of God. We struggle to recall past answers to prayer and lessons learned in previous crises. Only the present seems real. Our minds spin with future implications, and our troubled emotions inhibit clear thinking. When the storms come, never forget there is someone who can bring you peace.

One day in a boat on the Sea of Galilee, Christ was asleep when a storm came upon them. The Apostles began to fear the storm as they were tossed by the winds and water filled their boat. They awoke Jesus, crying. Christ arose and calmed the winds and waves with His power, saying “Peace, be still” (Mark 4:38-39). He turned to His Disciples and asked, “Where is your faith?” Life can be tempestuous, tossing us with winds of misfortune, grief, shame, or stress. How then do we stay calm and maintain our confidence and courage, regardless of what happens?

God put the apostle Paul, as a prisoner, on board a ship headed from Palestine to Rome. After the ship docked at the island of Crete, God told Paul to advise the crew not to leave the harbor because there was going to be a great storm. But the sailors were impatient to get to a better harbor, so they ignored what God had told them through Paul (Acts 27:9-12) and off they headed right into a dreadful storm.

My point, impatience is what gets us into trouble most of the times. Everywhere, you find so many people who are impatient to get a new job, get rich, get a new car or impatient to get married. They don’t take time to check things out with God, so they sail right off into the awaiting storms that rick their lives.

Thousands are those who get into storms because they got the wrong guidance from those they considered experts. The sailors were so eager to get sailing and so instead of listening to Paul, they listened to their captain whom they considered the expert. That’s how they ended up in a devastating storm.

Many people get themselves into trouble because they often rely on circumstances. There was a gentle south wind. The sailors thought they had gotten their wish because the circumstances looked favorable. It is completely foolish and unwise to ignore what God says, even if circumstances tend to contradict it. Things may look so good right now, but you may be sailing right into a storm.

I am sure you know many people who often say, “Well, this decision must be okay because I feel really good about it.” The fact is that feelings often lie. If God says, “Wait in the harbor,” you had better wait in the harbor.