The very first thing Jesus says to his disciples in this passage is “Let’s go across to the other side”.  The only way they could get to the other side was by boat since they were going across the sea. There was no other way to get across the sea but by boat. Jesus and the disciples got in the boat to go across the sea to the other side. The disciples obeyed Jesus and got in the boat to go to the other side.

Then a storm came along and this storm was so bad that there was water getting inside of the boat. The disciples truly thought that they were going to die from this storm. But why were the disciples in this storm? They were on the boat because Jesus told them that they [Jesus and the disciples] should go to the other side. So, the disciples were in this storm because they were obeying God, not because of sin or something that they did wrong.

Sometimes when we are going through a storm in our life, we might ask ourselves the question “what did I do wrong”? And like the story, there may be times when the answer is: “nothing”. There are times that a storm comes along because of sin, like when Jonah was running away from God, but this was not the case with the disciples and may not be the case in your life. When you go through storms in your life when you are being obedient to God, it is not because God wants to punish you. God wants to teach you something about himself.

Then the disciples woke Jesus up since they were worried that they were going to die and Jesus calmed the storm. It says the disciples were filled with fear. Not the fearful kind of fear, but a fear of awe and of reverence. They were amazed that the wind and seas obeyed Jesus. Through this storm the disciples learned something about Jesus that they had not known before. They learned that Jesus is in control of everything because even the wind and the seas obeyed him. That is also a good reminder for us that Jesus is always in control no matter what is happening around us.

Through this storm that the disciples were in out of obedience, they were able to learn something new about God. And when we are in storms out of obedience to God, we can also learn something new about God and his character. We just have to be willing to see what God wants to teach us about himself.