This morning, I read a familiar story from the bible, in which Jesus calms a storm. The story goes like this:
[…] When [Jesus] got into the boat, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And the men marvelled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”
Matthew 8:23 – 27, ESV, my brackets and emphasis.
This morning, I experienced a (loosely) similar story… One in which I felt as though I was being swamped by my own personal storm… of boxes!
My husband is a primary school teacher. Due to the global pandemic, he has been teaching from home for 50% of the working week. That means, 2.5 days of the week there is a real struggle concerning living and working space! We have one, open plan room and two bedrooms.
I have spent the past 3-4 weeks boxing up anything we don’t currently use, in order to create more room for our current living situation.
This morning was supposed to be the morning that we finally put all of those packed boxes into the loft. But it’s now 2.45pm… and I find myself quite literally swamped by a sea of boxes… and additional junk that my husband found, whilst he was in the loft. The tidy-my-house session has turned into a tidy-my-loft session…
In short, I find myself sitting in a bigger mess now than that which I was sat in this morning!
And, as I sit here, unable to close the door to my office/ bedroom/ storage space, I am quickly realise something important…
I am only in control of how I react.
The bible says:
[…] for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
2 Timothy 1:7, ESV.
It says “self-control”… not just “control”.
The one thing I can control is myself. Anything else is out of my hands.
- I can’t control the pandemic, our U.K government, or our stay-at-home situation.
- I can’t control other people. I can’t make someone do something at the exact time I would like it to happen, in the exact way.
- I can’t control the weather.
- I can’t control what will happen to me. But I can control how I react to whatever happens to me. How I think about it. How I respond to it, with what I have.
Before I gave birth to my daughter, I prayed for a healthy, speedy labour and birth. It didn’t quite go that way. Labour was long and painful. Some prayers went seemingly unanswered, while others were quickly, miraculously and obviously heard.
I couldn’t control what happened in that situation. But, for ages, I’ve believed the lie that I was in control. I believed that if I had prayed with more faith, or if I had done things differently, mine would have been a happier labour, with less pain and more answered prayer.
But that’s simply not true. While I was in real labour-pain, facing my own personal storm, God was still God. I could only control whether I believed that He would settle my storm with His presence – regardless of situational outcome.
Similarly, I suffer with ulcerative colitis – that’s been a long-lasting, mini storm in my life which, from time to time, throws a wave of flare-ups my way!
Yes, I can control how I react to my colitis – I can notice how foods effect my body and cut those out. I can pray for healing. But, there are things, relating to my illness, which are out of my control. Symptoms and unpredictable flare-ups, to mention a couple.
Again, I can only control how I react. I can’t even control how others react to my colitis… (Anyone with an underlying illness knows how frustrating that is!)
So, how do we control our reaction?
When pandemic waves swamp us, when illness – or pain – fills us and when daily battles really push our emotional buttons… how can we control what is ours to control?
In Matthew 8, Jesus reacts to the storm by sleeping:
[…] the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep.
Matthew 8:23, ESV.
Jesus quite literally rested in the middle of a storm. Shouldn’t we do the same?
- I can choose a quick walk around the block.
- I can choose to get out my journal and a pen, even if for five minutes.
- I can choose to read a book, once my toddler is in bed.
- I can choose to meditate, to relax and tune into God – if just for a moment.
- I can choose to do all of these things that help me stay mindful of God and His amazing presence, all around me.
I love the fact that Jesus spoke these words:
“And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Matthew 28: 20, NIV.
There’s something about those words; they make me weep.
I can picture Jesus, with tears in His eyes, knowing what His disciples were about to go through. Knowing what we would endure, in this life.
He knew that if we could grab hold of His presence, things wouldn’t seem so overwhelming. In all the storms, all the chaos, His promise is that He will simply be there with us, always.
It’s not a promise of control, it’s not even a promise of immediate rescue from a tough situation. It is an assurance that in every given circumstance we can rest, knowing that Jesus is with us, at all times.
Will we choose to believe the above?
Will our self-control result in us resting in His promise, or will we ignore Him and strive for another way out of whatever mess we find ourselves in?
How will we respond to our situations, moment by moment? Do we honestly think His presence is enough for us?
bethcoppenhall.com 