“About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on the water.” Mark 6:48 (NLT)

Have you ever had a storm blow your life off course?

In Mark 6, Jesus sent the disciples ahead of him to Bethsaida while he went off by himself to pray. It wasn’t a long trip by boat, but the disciples were blown off course by a storm. When Jesus saw them struggling against the wind in the middle of the lake, he came to their aid.

Does your life feel like the disciples’ today?

Maybe you had no intention of being where you are in your job, your marriage, or your finances. You’ve been blown off course by situations you couldn’t control. You feel like you should be at your original destination by now, but at this point you’ve given up hope of getting there. You just want to get back to safety.

Or perhaps you had big dreams for your life that you gave up on a long time ago. You’re not even worried about progress anymore. You’re just wondering, “Can I survive?”

What does Jesus do when you’re at your moment of desperation? Mark 6:48 says, “About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on the water” (NLT). Notice that he didn’t tell the disciples to come to him. He knew they couldn’t get to him. So he went to them instead. The same is true for you. When you’re at your point of desperation, Jesus comes to you!

I love the fact that Jesus did not stand on the shore and shout instructions. When you’re in a storm, you don’t need advice. You need a miracle! You need somebody to show up, and that’s what Jesus did. He intervened in the disciples’ storm.

This is the gospel: God doesn’t stand on the shoreline telling you what to do; instead, he comes out and meets you in your own storm—in your pain, fear, depression, and discouragement. He comes to you. What a God!

You may feel abandoned right now, but you’re not. The Living Bible paraphrase says, “I will not abandon you or leave you as orphans in the storm—I will come to you” (John 14:18). You can count on it!