We never expect to see Jesus in a bear market, pink slip, lawsuit, foreclosure, or war.

Peter and his fellow storm riders knew they were in trouble. What should have been a sixty-minute cruise became a nightlong battle. The boat lurched and lunged like a kite in a March wind. Sunlight was a distant memory. Rain fell from the night sky in buckets. Lightning sliced the blackness with a silver sword. Winds whipped the sails, leaving the disciples “in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves.” 

Apt description, perhaps, for your stage in life? Perhaps all we need to do is substitute a couple of nouns . . . In the middle of a divorce, tossed about by guilt. In the middle of debt, tossed about by creditors. In the middle of a recession, tossed about by stimulus packages and bailouts. The disciples fought the storm for nine cold, skin-drenching hours. And about 4:00 a.m. the unspeakable happened. They spotted someone coming on the water. “ ‘A ghost!’ they said, crying out in terror” (v. 26 MSG). 

They didn’t expect Jesus to come to them this way. Neither do we. 

We expect him to come in the form of peaceful hymns or Easter Sundays or quiet retreats. We expect to find Jesus in morning devotionals, church suppers, and meditation. We never expect to see him in a bear market, pink slip, lawsuit, foreclosure, or war. We never expect to see him in a storm. But it is in storms that he does his finest work, for it is in storms that he has our keenest attention. 

Jesus replied to the disciples’ fear with an invitation worthy of inscription on every church cornerstone and residential archway. “ ‘Don’t be afraid,’ he said. ‘Take courage. I am here!’ ” (v. 27 NLT).

 - Max Lucado