I've never written a song quite the way I wrote Sleeping in the Storm. For a while I'd usually have the music written first, and then I'd get ideas for the lyrics as I played the song more and more. I got the idea for this one first, before anything else.
It was weird because I hadn't been reading, thinking, or hearing about that particular bible story at all when I woke up one morning and found myself suddenly thinking about it for no apparent reason. Not only was I thinking about it, but I saw it in a way I'd never seen it before! It was like, I woke up, sat up...and then suddenly this revelation just dropped down into my head and I went "Oh yeah!!" I was so surprised that I thought "Man! I better write about this!"
I don't remember anymore what I thought story meant prior to this song. But what I do remember, is discovering a reason for that story to have happened and a reason for it to be included in the bible.
Think about what happened. Pretend you are one of the disciples. It's dark, the wind and the waves are tossing the boat up and down and rocking it side to side, splashing water everywhere inside it. You and the others are trying to scoop the water out but it's coming in faster than you can get it out. Then you see Jesus sleeping!You need all the help you can get, but does he help? No! Why on earth is He sleeping? How could He possibly sleep right now?? At first everyone was doing what they could to help while thinking that surely the storm would wake Him up soon!! But did it? No!! He just kept on sleeping! Finally, you and a couple of the others decided that you'd have to wake him up because if you didn't, He just might sleep right through the whole thing and you'd all die!
Honestly though! You're about to die, and He's so unconcerned that He'd even sleep through the whole thing if you didn't wake Him up! So when you finally wake Him up, you ask Him if He even cares and He acts surprised! He commands the storm to subside and as it does He proceeds to tell you that you have little faith.
What does this mean? Were you to have faith that everything would be alright? Even though He was asleep and didn't seem to be helping? Even though He didn't show the slightest hint of helping you or doing something about the storm? Were you to have faith that He is even in control of the storms and that even though it seems that He'd go on sleeping leaving you to drown, that this is really not so? That He would not let you die? Would He wake up at just the right time and rescue you? And show you the way out?
I believe this is what was meant when Jesus told His deciples that they had little faith. Since I realized this...I finally know what the significance was that the deciples said 'even the winds and the waves obey Him!' The deciples were in effect saying 'He is even in control of the storms!!' We don't have to fear the storms!!
Jesus did calm the storm that night, but He wants us to have enough faith in Him that we don't fear the storm. He wants us to completely trust Him. There were times when I would feel like I was near spiritual death. I was so afraid of all my constant failures and of my struggling in the same temptations, always losing the battle. I felt like I was about to helplessly drown spiritually. I found that the more I put my faith in Him, instead of myself, to get me through the storm, the less I was afraid of it. The less fear I had, the less power it had over me. I was also learning to cast my cares on Him.
Nothing can separate us from the love of God. As long as you still want to live right and belong to Him, He will not let you spiritually die. Not only is His love for you greater than can be imagined, but His wisdom is also greater than can be imagined. Perfect love and perfect wisdom is a recipe for dynomite saving power! And you can't accidentally mess up His plan, causing it to fail for you. His wisdom is greater than yours. He forsees the future and He plans ahead. He has thought of everything.
After your storm you'll be able to look back and go "Wow!! Look what He did with my life!! That is sooo amazing!!"
So Take Courage, and keep your faith up by getting to know Him. Get to know Him by studying Him in the bible. Study Him in the way He handled the pharasees. Study Him in Paul's explanations of grace vs law. The more you study, the more you'll get to know Him, and the more your faith will be built up. Your faith, trust, and hope will grow stronger.
Depression will be broken. Freedom will reign. Heaviness will vanish. Whether this happens suddenly in an instant or gradually....in His wise and perfect timing, it will happen.
Don't fear your weaknesses...ask Him for help, and then trust that He is helping. His sleeping is only His waiting for the perfect timing to arrive! In the meantime we should get to know Him better so that we can trust Him. Though His help may seem slow in coming to us, the more faith we have in Him, the less it will matter to us that it's taking so long.
No, none of this is easy. But it's the truth. And it does offer hope, and is encouraging. The truth sets us free, by exposing the lies that kept us in bondage. Getting to know Him is getting to know the truth.
It all boils down to getting to know Him. You can't have faith or trust someone that you don't know. We can spend the rest of our lives getting to know Him more and more....deeper and deeper...and still not know Him as He is. In heaven we will know Him perfectly. We will be perfect because we will perfectly know Him. (1 John 3:2) So 'hurry up and wait upon the Lord' (- Petra). Get to know Him while you are waiting to see what He will do.