Through Winds and Waves: Staying Faithful Through Trials

By: Lila Lowery

22 One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they put out, 23 and while they were sailing he fell asleep. A windstorm swept down on the lake, and the boat was filling with water, and they were in danger. 24 They went to him and woke him up, shouting, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he woke up and rebuked the wind and the raging waves; they ceased, and there was a calm. 25 He said to them, “Where is your faith?” They were afraid and amazed, and said to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him?” (Luke 8:22-25)

Everyone has felt far away from God. Even if you feel like this constantly or just once in a while, it happens. No one’s relationship with God is perfect. What truly matters is what we do when we feel distant from God. Do we abandon all hope and trust in Him, or do we lean on our faith instead? In this Bible passage, the disciples are quick to lose faith in Jesus. They must have thought that He was so foolish, falling asleep in the midst of a storm. But Jesus had a plan like He always does. He awoke and calmed the storm, putting at ease the waters and His disciples. Jesus questions the disciples’ faith, because He was with them all along, despite being asleep. 

It can feel like Christ is ‘asleep’ in our own lives too. When we are faced with trials and hardships, it’s easy to feel alone. But the truth is, you are never alone. God is always with you, watching over you with love and compassion. God is always working in your life, even when things seem quiet. My friend told me once, “The teacher is always quiet during the test”. This really altered my perspective on feeling distant from God. Life on earth will never be perfect, that’s what heaven is for. So it is inevitable to go through hard times. But, these hardships can be used to prove our faith in Christ. If we only believe and trust in Him when things are going well, then where is our faith? We need to keep coming back to Jesus, no matter the circumstances. If you failed your chemistry test, God is still there. If you’re seeing friends’ posts on social media without you, God is still there. His heart is just as open to you as it is when you are happy. When we don’t experience God the way we expect to, it does not mean he doesn’t care. His ways of revealing Himself to us are His alone, above human understanding and will. So when we don’t feel His presence immediately, we shouldn’t give up on Him. We have to rely on our faith in the goodness and love of Christ to prevail. 

Although God never wishes adversity on us, He can use it to reveal Himself through our struggles. Just like He is there in the joyful and happy moments of your life, he is there in the sad and discomforting moments too. Jesus knows about struggles, He had the most brutal suffering and death imaginable. So while you are suffering, take comfort in relating to Jesus, He knows how you feel. Use Christ as a role model to deal with suffering. I mean, Jesus could have been scared of the storm too. He could have doubted His Heavenly Father, but He did not. He had the greatest faith, knowing the storm would come to a still.

And lastly, God is bigger than all of your problems. When we are stuck in our own bubble, it seems like what we’re going through is the most important thing in the world. But, when we zoom out our perspective, we see that there is so much more out there. There is more life to live, joy to be had, and things to discover. Even if it does not seem like it at the moment, your circumstances will not remain the same forever. And all of this is because of God. He is the light of our lives, casting out the darkness. We serve an all-powerful God, who can control the winds and the sea, like Jesus did in Luke 8. If He can do this, of course, He can ease your pain and hardships. But all of this happens according to God’s plan, not our own. So when you think God is asleep, keep being faithful, because He is truly working. It’s because He never left.