“My suffering was good for me, for it taught me to pay attention to your decrees.”

Psalms 119:71 NLT

After miraculously feeding the 5,000, Jesus sent His disciples ahead in a boat across the Sea of Galilee while He went up a mountain to pray. By nightfall, the boat was stranded miles from shore, battered by violent winds and heavy waves. While the disciples felt helpless, abandoned, and terrified, they saw Jesus walking on the water toward them. Eventually, when Jesus got into the boat, the storm stopped.

This Scripture teaches that the storms in our lives, terrifying moments, and hopeless situations do not come to harm us, but often become opportunities to experience Jesus like never before.

If the storm had not rocked the boat and the journey had been a calm sail through the night, the disciples could have slept peacefully throughout the trip. However, they would have missed witnessing the miracle of Jesus walking on water. Not only did Jesus walk on the water, but He also equipped one of His disciples to experience the same.

The storm and violent winds brought fear to the disciples, yet they also gave them a lifetime experience of the sovereignty and might of Almighty God. What appeared to be a disaster became a revelation of who Jesus truly is. Some revelations of God are discovered only in adversity. In the calm seasons, we enjoy His blessings, but in the stormy seasons, we often come to know His character, His power, and His faithfulness in a deeper way.

Similarly, be encouraged that afflictions, infirmities, tribulations, and distress can reveal God in ways we have never seen Him before. Rocky seasons lead us to focus on Jesus, whereas in comfortable and pleasant times we may tend to forget our Savior.

So, as David sings, it is good that we are afflicted, for through affliction we learn the decrees of God, experience His faithfulness, and come to know Him more intimately than ever before. Some lessons about God cannot be learned in calm waters; they are discovered only in the middle of the storm.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, thank You for being with us in every storm of life. Help us to trust You when the winds are strong and the waves seem overwhelming. Open our eyes to see Your hand at work even in our afflictions. Teach us Your ways, deepen our faith, and reveal more of Your character through every trial. May we grow closer to You and learn Your decrees as we walk through every season. In Jesus’ name, Amen.