Sometimes I find it helpful when dealing with a situation, to try and find a place in the Bible where someone went through a similar thing. I look to see what God instructs them to do, or what they do that is right or wrong.

A while back I found myself in a difficult situation. Life was very chaotic, and I was trying to figure out where in the Bible anybody faced anything similar to what I was facing. Although there wasn’t a direct passage of somebody dealing with the exact same thing, I realized that there was a passage that spoke perfectly to my situation. It is the story of Jesus calming the storm, and it is found in multiple places in the Gospels (Matthew 8:23-27, Mark 4:35-41, and Luke 8:22-25).

Matthew 8:23-27 reports this story as follows:

^“23 Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him.²⁴ Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping.²⁵ The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”
²⁶ He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.
²⁷ The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”

This story really spoke to me, as I could see the obstacles of life as a huge storm, and it seemed as if God was sleeping through it all. What I saw in this passage, though, was my faith being confronted: “You of little faith.” That was exactly what I needed to hear.

God has been so faithful in my life, even in the bad times, and it can be so easy to forget about his faithfulness and to lose faith. In Mark, it is recounted as Jesus asking, “Do you still have no faith?” I realize that I’ve seen God’s work so powerfully in my life, as well as the lives of others. How can I still not have faith?

In life, bad things will happen. That’s how life works, but (as Christians) we are required to hold strong to our faith, even in the largest of storms. He doesn’t promise that storms will not come, but he does promise to be near to those who trust in Him.

In Psalm 34:18, we see that God is near to the brokenhearted and saves those crushed in spirit. He doesn’t say that hearts will not be broken in this life, or even that our spirits will not be crushed. Rather, he says that He will be near, and that He will provide, even over the many trials that come our way. In these trials, it's important to remind ourselves to have faith in the One that even the wind and waves obey.