"It's All About Trust"

"He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still." (Psalms 107:29)

 Whether we are few, many, or all alone, we are never on are own in this world; even though things may not appear that way, He is always by our side. I was thinking about that "Footprints" picture hanging behind my guest bath toilet, and how often we question God's presence in the storms of our life, thinking that He has left us to try and maneuver them on our own. There is really nothing that could be further from the truth! When we think such things, we either don't think God is big enough, or we think He is not concerned enough about our personal lives. Thinking of Lazarus, the one that Jesus called back to life, that was the concern of Martha, as she said, "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." When in reality, Jesus could have been there if He wanted; He could have healed him from where He was at, with just a word. But there was a reason for him to die, that the Lord would be glorified by bringing him back to life. God has a reason for each and every thing that He allows to happen in our lives; there are always others who need to see God working in and through our lives, sometimes, if not all times, we hardly even know the extent of work that He is doing all around us; the ripple effect of each and every trial or work, one person can spread to three or four, or even a thousand. God has a way of making beauty from ashes; from turning life giving salvation from even the simplest of deaths. It just takes one life to be changed, and that one life could minister to thousands. When you look at the Scripture references for this particular verse, three of them are regarding Jesus rebuking the waves after being woken from His sleep, from Matthew, Mark, and Luke; but there is one, the encounter of Jonah with the men of the ship that he was on, that says, "So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging." In case you were not aware, or might have forgotten, this men were torn between throwing Jonah over or not. They did not want to because they could see very plainly that he was a man of God, but they could also see that he was also trying to run from God; torn between these two situations, they had to make a choice, do they or don't they do what he told them to do. Who had the greater faith, them or Jonah? Collectively, they did; but Jonah also believed in the mighty power of God...

""Throw me into the sea," Jonah said, "and it will become calm again. I know that this terrible storm is my fault." Instead, the sailors rowed even harder to get the ship to the land. But the stormy sea was too violent for them, and they couldn't make it. Then they cried to the LORD, Jonah's God. "O LORD," they pleaded, "don't make us die for this man's sin. And don't hold us responsible for his death. O LORD, you have sent this storm upon him for your own good reasons." Then the sailors picked Jonah up and threw him into the raging sea, and the storm stopped at once! The sailors were awestruck by the LORD'S great power, and they offered him a sacrifice and vowed to serve him. Now the LORD had arranged for a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three nights." (Jonah 1:12-17) NLT