His Presence in Life’s Storms
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Late that night, the disciples were in their boat in the middle of the lake, and Jesus was alone on land. He saw that they were in serious trouble, rowing hard and struggling against the wind and waves. About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on the water. … They were all terrified when they saw him. But Jesus spoke to them at once. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Take courage! I am here!” Then he climbed into the boat, and the wind stopped. They were totally amazed.—Mark 6:47–51
Have you ever had a storm blow your life off course?
In Mark 6, Jesus sent the disciples ahead of him to Bethsaida while he went off by himself to pray. It wasn’t a long trip by boat, but the disciples were blown off course by a storm. When Jesus saw them struggling against the wind in the middle of the lake, he came to their aid.
Does your life feel like the disciples’ today? Maybe you had no intention of being where you are in your job, your marriage, or your finances. You’ve been blown off course by situations you couldn’t control. You feel like you should be at your original destination by now, but at this point you’ve given up hope of getting there. You just want to get back to safety.
Or perhaps you had big dreams for your life that you gave up on a long time ago. You’re not even worried about progress anymore. You’re just wondering, “Can I survive?”
What does Jesus do when you’re at your moment of desperation? Mark 6:48 says, “About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on the water.” Notice that he didn’t tell the disciples to come to him. He knew they couldn’t get to him. So he went to them instead. The same is true for you. When you’re at your point of desperation, Jesus comes to you!
I love the fact that Jesus did not stand on the shore and shout instructions. When you’re in a storm, you don’t need advice. You need a miracle! You need somebody to show up, and that’s what Jesus did. He intervened in the disciples’ storm.
This is the gospel: God doesn’t stand on the shoreline telling you what to do; instead, he comes out and meets you in your own storm—in your pain, fear, depression, and discouragement. He comes to you. What a God!
You may feel abandoned right now, but you’re not. The Living Bible paraphrase says, “I will not abandon you or leave you as orphans in the storm—I will come to you” (John 14:18). You can count on it!—Rick Warren1
With us in every storm
After a busy day of ministry, it was around sundown and they were physically weary. So when Jesus said, “Let us go across to the other side,” the disciples were ready to follow (Mark 4:35). They weren’t anxious about the trip; it was just one of many they had taken across the Sea of Galilee. ...
Unfortunately, this didn’t turn out to be the routine trip the disciples were expecting. Storms were not unusual in this area. … Suddenly, they found themselves in a very dangerous situation, when the high winds and huge waves began breaking over the boat one after another. The boat was quickly filling with water, and the experienced fishermen aboard knew they were in a life-threatening situation (Mark 4:37).
So where was Jesus in the midst of this? He was in the stern of the boat, asleep on a cushion. But His nap didn’t last very long. The frightened disciples woke Him and said to Him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” (Mark 4:38). Jesus awoke from His sleep and rebuked the wind, speaking to it, “Peace, be still.” And just that quick the storm was over and the water was calm (Mark 4:39).
Didn’t Jesus care about these men who were handpicked by Him and closest to Him? Weren’t they obeying Jesus, who told them to “go over to the other side”? Why, then, were they going through such a turbulent time?
How sad the disciples must have felt when Jesus looked at them and said, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” (Mark 4:40). After this experience, they were amazed and said, “Who is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” (Mark 4:41).
No one is exempt from the storms of life. Remember, the boat Jesus and the disciples were on wasn’t the only one around. Mark told us that other boats were around them, so the men on these boats who may have been unbelievers also faced the storm. The Gospel does not tell us any more about them, but they faced the frightening situation without Jesus.
When we go through storms, we have an advantage over those who do not know the Lord. We are never alone in the storm; the One who has power over the wind and the sea is with us. … As we go through the storms, we can know we are being guarded by God’s power as we place our faith in Him. … As we trust Jesus during the storms we face, the storm may not stop immediately. … But we can be assured that we will come out of our storms with more understanding of the greatness of our God.—Barbara Robbins2
Rough seas
There’s a peace I’ve come to know
Though my heart and flesh may fail
There’s an anchor for my soul
I can say “It is well.”—Chris Tomlin
I sang these words over and over, hoping that the repetition would procure me some peace. But I did not feel peace. My soul felt troubled, even terrified. Where is God in this mess? Where is God in this uncertainty?
I’m sure I sounded exactly like Jesus’ disciples when they were caught in a storm at sea. Jesus, undisturbed by the gale, was asleep on a pillow. The disciples woke Him saying, “Master, don’t you care if we perish?” Jesus got up and said to the sea, “Peace. Be still!” and the storm stopped and the sea was calm. Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” Jesus didn’t ask them this because they were afraid of the storm; it was because they questioned whether or not Jesus cared (Mark 4:35–40).
And here I was with the exact same fears: Don’t You care, God? My peace, and sometimes even my faith, is so connected to whether or not things are going the way I want them to.
Here are some of my peace stealers:
- Loss. I tend to live each new loss through the filter of all previous losses and feel past pain along with fresh pain.
- Surrender. The struggle when we know God’s will is in conflict with our own!
- Lack. When there’s something I need that I don’t have, it’s hard to accept peace.
I think it’s pretty obvious that these types of situations are times when peace isn’t expected, similar to how we would expect to be afraid in the middle of a big storm on a little boat tossing about on the sea. God doesn’t mind the scared response—He knows a storm is scary—but He says Jesus is in the boat with us, and we don’t need to question whether or not He cares.
Back to my troubled soul. I’d just lost a family member, suddenly and painfully. One of my kids was facing some serious health issues. Another one was facing some very challenging crossroads. Sometimes it all feels like too much, my peace slips away from me and, like the apostles, I question if God cares.
But of course, Jesus is with me in my boat, and He does care. I read that story again. I sang the lines of that beautiful hymn over and over, calling peace back to my soul, and it came.—Marie Alvero
Published on Anchor August 2026. Read by Gabriel Garcia Valdivieso. Music by Michael Fogarty.
1 Rick Warren, “Jesus Comes to You in Your Storm,” pastorrick.com, July 8, 2025, https://www.pastorrick.com/current-teaching/devotional/jesus-comes-to-you-in-your-storm-2025.
2 Barbara Robbins, “Jesus Is With Us in the Storm,” hopeandlight.blog, May 20, 2020, https://hopeandlight.blog/2020/05/20/jesus-is-with-us-in-the-storm.
