OUR ANCHORS IN THE MIDST OF OUR TROUBLES.
(My Bible Reflection-FAZ, May 15, 2024)
SCRIPTURE REFERENCE: JOHN 6:15-21.
Do you want to have a friend who will make you a better person? A friend who will make you a sharper person? A friend who may hurt you to help you? A friend who would help you to be patient or perservering? To draw you closer to Jesus? To give you more strength? To make you a mature believer in the Lord Jesus?
You already have that friend, and his name is “TROUBLE.” And God sends troubles to us for a purpose. Not to crush us but to improve and make us a better person.
In today’s reflection, I will share with you why troubles maybe a good friend to us and the six anchors that will help us to ride out the troubles and storms of life based on our passage in JOHN 6:15-21.
THE BACKGROUND OF THE PASSAGE:
Jesus had just fed the 5,000 and the crowds were clambering after Him because of the miracles that He had done. They wanted to make Him a king. But He had no interest in being that kind of king. Jesus withdrew Himself up to a mountain to pray and to get away from the crowd. He sent the disciples down to the sea to go across the Sea of Galilee. They were seasoned sailors, and they set sail because the Lord had told them to.
However, they were not aware that trouble was coming. They sailed into a storm. The wind suddenly arose.The winds became boisterous. Water was now filling the boat. It was the darkest hour of the night. They were rowing, and their backs were aching. They were out in the middle of the sea.They could not go back, and it was difficult to go forward. It was too far to swim to shore. The shoreline was lost in the blackness, and they were filled with despair.
Have you been in a situation that everything was fine when suddenly troubles come your way? That the winds are beginning to blow, and things will seem to reverse on you?
If that happens to you, don’t despair, we have anchors from Jesus so that we can ride above the troubles of life.
ONE: IN OUR TROUBLES, WE ARE GOVERNED BY GOD’S PROVIDENCE.
Why did the disciples go down to the lake and get to the boat in order to set off across the lake for Capernaum? It was not the decision of the disciples to go there. It was Jesus’ will and decision.
In the parallel verse in Matt. 14:11, after he dismissed the crowd, Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him on the other side of the lake. If the disciples were at the middle of the lake at that time, they were there by the will of God. They just followed what Jesus commanded them to do and to go. And when they were in the middle of the lake, they found themselves at the middle of the storm not because they decided to go there but because Jesus told them to sail to the middle of that storm.
This storm did not take the Lord Jesus by surprise. (Psalm 107:25) In fact, it was Jesus who created the storm for them to experience. In Psalm 107:25, “For he spoke and stirred up a tempest that lifted high the waves.” Thus, troubles in life may come to us because he spoke and stirred up for us to experience for a purpose.
Perhaps you are in the eye of a storm right now. It looks like your boat is sinking. It is so dark that you cannot see your hand before your face. Every wind appears to be contrary to you. But remember this: There is nothing that comes to you that He does not cause or allow. One way or the other, His providence is there. Not a drop of water in the Sea of Galilee during that time was there without God’s permission.
Whether we can see it and whether we can understand it or not, it is a fact that God has not relinquished His rule upon His universe and in your life.
TWO: IN OUR TROUBLES, WE ARE GROWING BY HIS PLAN.
God sends and uses troubles to enlarge us and not indulge us. God is not merely so interested in making us happy and healthy as He is in making us holy. God will sometimes put us into trouble. The Lord Jesus engineered these problems for His disciples because He wanted to develop them. We grow and develop spiritually during the times when trouble comes along.
Yes, we do not enjoy having trouble, but we grow the most in times of deepest despair. Faith is developed best in the dark just like a beautiful picture.
I remember the twelve spies who were sent to spy out the land of Israel, and ten came back with a bad report. (Numbers 13:17-33) They said that the land was filled with milk and honey, but there were giants in the land, the sons of Anak. They said that they couldn’t go into the land because they would go to war with the giants.That the giants were so big that the spies felt like grasshoppers. (Numbers 14:9)
But Caleb said, “For they are bread for us.”
Not that they were created for us, but they’re food for us. What did Caleb mean by this? When we eat bread, we strengthen and grow. These difficulties were there to make them grow. We will never grow until we eat the bread that God has set before us.
Often, it is trouble. To grow, we have to have difficulty. Golda Meir once said,”You'll never find a better sparring partner than adversity.”
THREE: IN OUR TROUBLES, WE ARE GRACED BY HIS PRAYERS (MARK 6:47-48)
When the Lord Jesus sent the disciples down to the sea, He went up to the mountain top where He had a vantage. He saw the whole thing. He saw the disciples rowing. He saw the clouds as they began to roil and boil. He saw the sea as the waves began to rise.
What was Jesus doing while the disciples were having troubles in the midst of the sea? Jesus was praying for his disciples. The disciples may not have known that Jesus had His eye upon them, but He did.(Mark 6:47-48) They did not see Him, but He saw them. He never took His eye off them. On the mountain, Jesus prayed and interceded for the disciples.
Are you in the midst of a storm? He is watching over you and praying for you. (Hebrews 7:25) We cannot pray for everyone and everything. If we try to do this, then our prayer list will become a stagnant swamp rather than a controlled river. God will lay prayer burdens upon our hearts. He will tell us whom to pray for. If someone is praying for you, then you are blessed.
YOU ARE ON JESUS’ PRAYER LIST. He knows you. (Matt. 10:30) You are not an incident. You are not an accident. He does not love us all; He loves us each. Jesus watched the disciples right in the eye of the storm. He was there. They could not see Him, but He could see them. You could not see Him, but He could see you!
FOUR: IN OUR TROUBLES, WE ARE GLADDENED BY HIS PRESENCE (JOHN 6:17, 20)
It was the fourth hour (between 3:00 AM and 6:00 AM) when Jesus came to them. It was the darkest hour of the night.
And in their darkest hour, Jesus came. Why did He not come sooner? He had His eye on them all the time. He was praying for them all the time. The problem was not that He had forgotten them, but they had forgotten Him. (Mark 6:51-52)
They had seen Him feed the five thousand. There were twelve basketfuls left over. Every disciple had a basket of bread right between his feet. One basket for every disciple. They forgot the miracle of the loaves.
That is the reason we need more than miracles to live on. We need Jesus. How easily we forget miracles. They were asking for another miracle. But what they needed was not a miracle; they need the Miracle Worker, Jesus Christ Himself.
Jesus waited a while before He came to them. He came to them strategically at exactly the right time. (Isaiah 30:1) We need to learn to wait on the Lord. Many times, the Lord will deliberately delay that He may be gracious to us.
I remember when Lazarus was sick, they sent for Jesus. Rather than coming immediately at their request, Jesus waited. He held back until Lazarus was dead. (John 11:14-15)
Jesus had something greater in mind. Suppose the Lord had come sooner and healed Lazarus. Lazarus would have been just one more person whom Jesus healed. Some people might have said that Lazarus would have gotten better anyway. How would they have known it was a miracle? Jesus RESURRECTED him from the dead. Jesus had a plan. That plan was not only to heal him but to raise him from the dead for his greater glory.
God waited 4,000 years before He sent the Lord Jesus Christ into this world after He made that promise. But the Bible says, “He came in the fullness of time.” (Galatians 4:4) Jesus is never late, never ahead of time, and never in a hurry. (Habakkuk 2:3) Wait for it. He will come to us. His eyes are upon us as He prays for us.
FIVE: IN OUR TROUBLES, WE ARE GUARDED BY HIS POWER. (JOHN 6:20)
It has been said that, “The will of God will never take you where the grace of God cannot keep you.” Jesus told the disciples to “go over” to the other side. He did not say “go under”. He had a plan for them. When the disciples first saw Jesus walking on the water, they began to draw back in terror; but soon their terror was turned to joy. They heard Him say, “It is I, be not afraid.” What He literally said was, “Do not be afraid, I AM.” He used the name for Jehovah, the most sacred name to the Jewish people.
When Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt, he asked whom should he say sent him. Jehovah said to tell them that I AM sent him. (Exodus 3:13-14) Yesterday, He was not “I was”; He was I AM. Today, He is I AM. Tomorrow, He is not “I will be”; He is I AM. There was never a time when He was not. He is the great eternal God. "I AM" is a proclamation of presence, a promise of abundance. He is the I AM in the midst of your storm.
Why did Jesus walk upon the water? There was a message in the miracle, a significance in the sign. The water was their biggest problem. But Jesus was telling them that what looked like it was going to be over their heads was already under His feet. (John 16:33) We are overcomers in the Lord Jesus Christ.
JESUS IS THE GREAT “I AM”.
I AM the bread of life. (John 6:35)
I AM the water of life. (Revelation 21:6)
I AM the Door. (John 10:7, 9)
I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life. (John 14:6)
So Jesus is your “I AM” in the midst of your storm.
SIX: IN OUR TROUBLES, WE ARE GUIDED BY HIS PURPOSE. (JOHN 6:21)
God has not promised us smooth sailing; He has promised us a safe landing. There were three miracles: He suspended the law of gravity. He overruled the law of time. He overruled the law of space. When Jesus came aboard, immediately they were at the shore. He had a purpose. He will see you to the shore.
Andrew Murray said, “God is willing to assume the full responsibility for the life totally yielded to Him.”
Thus, if you yield your life to Jesus, He will bring you to the destination intended for you. You may have trouble, you may have tears and heartaches, but you are predestined to be like Jesus. (Romans 8:28) One of these days, your destiny will be fulfilled. (Philippians 1:6)
CONCLUSION:
Brethren, are you in troubles right now? Remember: His eyes are on you, and He is praying for you. (Hebrews 13:5) He will see you through.
One of these days, He will step down from the mountain of His glory. He will be stepping on the clouds. He will be coming to us. With victory on His face, as the Great I Am, the trumpet will sound.
Your ship will leave the sea of time and immediately be on the shores of eternity. His providence allows us trouble and heartache, but He never takes His eyes off of us. He comes to us in the darkest hour, and He sees us through. Jesus is God’s answer to our despair and every other need that we will ever have.
Do you want to ride above the storms of life? Remember your anchors:
JESUS' PROVIDENCE
JESUS' PLAN
JESUS' PRAYERS
JESUS' PRESENCE
JESUS' POWER
JESUS' PURPOSE
Glory to God!
Reference: Sermon of Dr. Adrian Rogers.
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