“So when they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing nigh unto the ship; and they were afraid.” – John 6:19

In the Bible there are correcting storms and there are perfecting storms. Jonah, who spent the night on a foam blubber mattress, was in a correcting storm because he was out of the will of God. He was running from God. And God sent a correcting storm.

But there are also perfecting storms. These disciples were not out of the will of God. Why were they in a storm?  Because—don’t miss this—they were in the will of God. It was Jesus, Matthew tells us, who constrained them to get into that boat. They were in this storm because they were obeying Jesus. Why would Jesus want them to be in a storm? Because He wanted them to grow.

I’ve often shared these words, written by Robert Browning Hamilton:

“I walked a mile with pleasure, she chatted all the way. But left me none the wiser, for all she had to say. I walked a mile with sorrow, not a word said she. But oh, the things I learned from sorrow, when sorrow walked with me.” Is that not true? “Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress.” Someone said that faith is like film. It’s developed in the dark. That’s when we learn to trust the Lord.

For more from Love Worth Finding and Pastor Adrian Rogers, please visit

www.lwf.org.