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Immediately he [Jesus] made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. --Matthew 14:22 I want you to think about today’s verse for a moment. Jesus made the disciples get into that boat, knowing that a storm was coming their way. Yet Jesus didn’t send them into the teeth of a storm to be malicious or mean. He did it to help build the disciples’ faith! And by doing this, Jesus also showed that He was in complete control. You know, outside of salvation itself, the most liberating, life-producing, joy-producing, peace-giving truth is the fact that Jesus Christ is sovereignly in control of your life. This means no matter what storm you’re in or what storm you’re going to be in (because you’ll always be in one of those two places), God has you there for a reason.  So you can give Him thanks… not necessarily for the circumstance or the crisis itself… but for the Christ who reigns and rules in your heart and in your daily experiences. And you can thank God for loving you enough to be willing to send storms into your life to either perfect you or correct you. There’s a song by Babbie Mason that says, “God is too wise to be mistaken, God is too good to be unkind. So when you don’t understand, when you don’t see His plan, when you can’t trace His hand, trust His heart.” The same God who took you into the storm is the same God who will bring you out of it! So trust His heart… and His love for you… today. GIVE THANKS FOR THE STORMS AND TRIALS IN YOUR LIFE. Grasping the Nature of God Tuesday, September 17, 2019 by Dr. Paul Chappell “What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols? Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach! Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it. But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.” Habakkuk 2:18–20 The Israelites in Habakkuk’s time were deeply enmeshed in idol worship. They had adopted the pagan practice of the neighboring countries of recognizing many other gods. Despite the Second Commandment (“Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image…” Exodus 20:4), many of them had household idols to represent the different deities to whom they had chosen to give allegiance. Sometimes they would purchase these, but often they would make their own. But no matter how elaborate or beautifully decorated these idols were, their underlying falsity did not change. They were still made of wood or stone or clay, and they had no life or power which could answer a desperate prayer for help. The Israelites found themselves in this low spiritual condition because they had lost their appreciation for God’s character. He alone is high and lifted up, and before His face no man should dare to speak of any other that would come before Him. We must remember who and what God is if we are to love and serve Him above all else. The Scottish theologian, hymn writer and pastor Horatius Bonar said, “All error is, more or less, whether directly or indirectly, a misrepresentation of God’s character and a subversion of His revelation.” God is revealed in His Word, not in the depictions of Him painted by a lost and careless world. We must go to the Bible to see Him revealed, and to be reminded of His greatness. Today's Growth Principle:  When we see God for who He really is, the things of this world lose their attractiveness to us.