Sleeping Through Storms.

How to weather these uncertain times.

Hey Friends!

Before you jump into this week’s article, I just wanted to make sure that you were aware that The Lighthouse is a podcast too. Each week I record and post this same article, because I know some people prefer to listen rather than read. If that’s you, subscribe to The Lighthouse Podcast wherever you listen. For sake of ease, you can find links to subscribe on Spotify and Apple Podcasts below. I hope it’s helpful!

- Ryan

It’s scary to be stuck in a storm.

The deadliest storm in U.S. history struck the city of Galveston, Texas, on the evening of September 8, 1900. Early in the day, it was evident a storm was brewing in the Gulf. Unfortunately, they were wholly unprepared for the magnitude of the horror to come. The great Galveston storm claimed somewhere between 6,000 and 12,000 lives.

Survivors described wind that sounded like “a thousand little devils shrieking and whistling.” Six-foot waves rushed down Broadway Avenue. It was chaos. Imagine the horror of enduring these conditions.

It’s scary to be stuck in a storm. And while the conditions and the nature are different, much of life feels like a storm.

You might feel tossed around by winds of worry. You might feel pounded by waves of discouragement. You might feel soaked in the rains of sadness. In short, it feels like we live in a violent ocean of emotion. Anxiety, fear, and anger are all natural responses to the circumstances surrounding us. The problem is, there's a nagging question lurking in it all:

“Where is Jesus?”

You might think, “Jesus promised He would never leave me nor forsake me. But I have to say, I feel pretty alone. It sure doesn’t seem like He’s up to anything good in this! So where is He?” If you find yourself wrestling with some version of this, I have good news. That question is the sentiment of countless Psalms. It's also the experience of every follower of Jesus in history. So it only seems right that we face it head-on.

Where is Jesus when life is hard?

One story of Jesus has brought me immense comfort in some of my most overwhelming storms. It highlights three common problems we experience in the storms of life.

First, storms tend to surprise us.

Mark 4:35-37a says this:

“On that day, when evening had come, he told them, ‘Let’s cross over to the other side of the sea.’ So they left the crowd and took him along since he was in the boat. And other boats were with him. A great windstorm arose…”

So Jesus finishes a day of teaching and decides to cross to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. In the midst of their trip, they’re hit by a surprise storm. It turns out, this is a common scenerio. The Sea of Galilee sits seven hundred feet below sea level. It's also a few miles from Mount Hermon, which is 9,200 feet high. So what happens is, the cold air of the mountains collides with the warm air coming off the Sea of Galilee. This produces massive storms out of nowhere.

This is why Mark says, “…a great windstorm arose…” This storm came as a surprise. Conditions were fine, and then they were not.

The reality is, difficult seasons of life often don’t come with notice; they seem to come out of nowhere. So there’s a level of unpreparedness. You feel caught off guard. You don’t feel ready mentally. You don't feel emotionally prepared. You’re left figuring it all out on the fly.

If you’re experiencing any of that right now, here are two things I want you to know: First, you’re not alone. Everyone is struggling. Our struggles may look different and impact us in differing ways, but life is hard for everyone. So we share that, and we’re in it together.

Most importantly, the suddenness of your storm doesn’t surprise Jesus. Psalm 139:16 says, “Your eyes saw me when I was formless; all my days were written in your book and planned before a single one of them began.” Even when you’re unaware a storm is coming, Jesus is already prepared to be your strength through it. So even when you feel unprepared, we can rest in the reality that He is.

Second, storms threaten to sink us.

The end of verse 37 says:

“…the waves were breaking over the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped.”

First, let’s make sure we have an accurate understanding of these boats. In 1986, a fishing boat from the first century was discovered at the bottom of the Sea of Galilee. It was 26 feet long, 7 feet wide, and could hold 15 people, including 4 rowers and a helmsman. So this was a good-sized boat.

But despite its size, we know from the response of the disciples that this storm was punishing them. So much so, they believed they were going to die. This wasn’t like if I was stuck in a rowboat during a squall. I’d be losing my mind because that’s not my world. But this was their world. They lived on this water. They were familiar with storms. But this one was so violent, they weren’t certain they could survive it. The weight of it threatened to crush them.

That’s how we feel when life is hard. Sometimes it feels like more than we can take. And the truth is, sometimes it is more than we can take. But the good news is, our trials are never more than God can take.

Isaiah 40:28-29 says,

“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the whole earth. He never becomes faint or weary; there is no limit to his understanding. He gives strength to the faint and strengthens the powerless.”

Friend, you may be weary, but God never wears out. And He promises to carry you through this.

Third, storms cause us to question Jesus’ care.

Mark finishes the story by writing:

He was in the stern, sleeping on the cushion. So they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher! Don’t you care that we’re going to die?” He got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Silence! Be still!” The wind ceased, and there was a great calm. Then he said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” And they were terrified and asked one another, “Who then is this? Even the wind and the sea obey him!” -- Mark 4:38-41 (CSB)

The fact that Jesus was sleeping through this storm tells us two things. First, it teaches us that in His humanity, even Jesus needed a nap. That means you shouldn’t feel shame if you feel fatigued. One of the healthiest decisions we can make in an unsettling season is to get the rest we need.

Second, Jesus displays a complete lack of fear. While everyone else is running around in a panic, Jesus is passed out on a pillow. And notice the result…Jesus’ inaction led his disciples to question His care. That’s exactly what they asked when they woke Him: “…Teacher! Don’t you CARE that we’re going to die?” This question reveals an incorrect assumption we’re all prone to make about the love and care of Jesus.

We assume that Jesus’ care for us will cause Him to keep us from hardship.

Yet Jesus’ response to them was, “Why are you afraid?” How baffling must this question have seemed to the disciples? They must have thought Jesus was nuts! “What do you mean, why are we afraid? We thought we were going to die! We didn’t think you cared about us at all.” When we assume Jesus’ care for us will cause Him to keep us from hardship, we forget a sobering reality:

Jesus has a superior good in our suffering.

One of the most painful experiences I remember from being a new dad came the morning after our oldest, Ava, was born. The pediatrician came to do an exam and administer a shot. I remember the exhaustion of not sleeping. Then I had to watch this guy poke and prod Ava while she cried and cried. All I wanted to do was stop her suffering. But I didn’t do that. I let the doctor do what he had to do, despite the confusion and pain it caused Ava. I let her experience this momentary pain because I knew it was critical for her long-term health. Jesus does the same for you and me.

We may prefer smooth seas over violent storms, but Jesus intends storms to fortify our faith. He does this not in the absence of love but driven by it. He knows that faith is more critical to our health than comfort. So in love, He permits stormy seasons so our faith in Him will grow.

Now, if you’re familiar with my work, you know that I’m always concerned with practice. Knowing the truth is important. Responding to it is even more so. So these reminders are helpful.

• Jesus isn’t surprised by our storms.

• Jesus is with us in the midst of our storms.

• Jesus isn’t wearied by our storms.

But it's also important we discern how to best weather the disorienting times in which we find ourselves. Here are a few thoughts:

First, blend emotional engagement with deliberate trust.

Notice that this demands two choices. We have to choose to acknowledge our difficult emotions and choose to trust God’s goodness in the midst of them. If we allow ourselves to be swept away by every wave of emotion, we're going to be a chronic mess. But, if we deny them in the name of "trusting God," we end up with a strange form of superficial, spiritual stoicism. Intimacy is forged in the waters of acknowledging our emotions and trusting God. If we disconnect these two, intimacy unravels. So let’s blend emotional engagement with deliberate trust.

Second, unload your heart and mind regularly.

I talk with people every week who are having a very hard time. More often than not, they’re open, honest, and vulnerable. For the most part, I mainly try to listen. Sometimes I don’t feel like I have much to say that’s helpful. Yet, they tend to say something to the effect of, “It’s helpful to verbalize all this.” The truth is, we have a finite amount of space to stuff our emotions. Furthermore, stuffing and suppressing results in stress, anxiety, and isolation. The remedy isn’t easy, but it’s simple. We have to talk, both to God and to one another. So make sure you’re unloading your heart and mind regularly.

Third, find small things to look forward to daily.

I remember a conversation with my therapist early in COVID. She said, “Because we have nothing concrete we can look forward to in the future right now, we have to find things to look forward to each day.” This was huge for me.

We're not all canceling our plans and living in isolation anymore. But we still need things to look forward to each day. It could be the walk you’re going to take, or the novel you’re going to read. It can be something as simple as the glass of wine you’re going to have with dinner, or a conversation with a friend. The point is, we have to learn gratitude for small things. Every day, God expresses His goodness toward us. So develop the discipline of identifying it by finding small things to look forward to daily.

Fourth, soothe without scarring yourself.

We all have to find ways to cope in the storms of life. When life is hard, we often eat in a less healthy manner, we exercise less, and our screen time increases. Sometimes it feels unavoidable. What we have to be careful of is coping in ways that are unhelpful and unhealthy in the long term. A day on the sofa, eating comfort food, and scrolling Instagram reels may not be a big deal. But the longer a storm persists, the more our temporary means of coping calcify into habits. The last thing we want is for our season of difficulty to form unhealthy habits. So we have to soothe without scarring ourselves.

Finally, we have to learn to acclimate daily practices to present conditions.

One of the hardest parts of weathering a storm is not knowing how long it will last. What helps me is shifting my mind away from waiting to get out of the storm. Instead I want to build a new way to live within it. So here’s a question to think about:

“How can you best tend to your health in this season?”

We acclimate life around the answer to that question.

In closing, you may have noticed that I skipped right over the most important detail of this story. Jesus has authority over the storm. He stands up, says three words, and Mark tells us, “there was a great calm.” Our English translation doesn’t capture the original Greek well. The original language describes conditions as moving from chaos to dead calm in a moment. Jesus spoke three words, and it was like the storm never existed. That’s the authority Jesus holds over every storm we face.

So here’s my parting thought:

Jesus is with you in the storm. You can trust His power to carry you through it.