Mark 4:36-39 ESV
And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. [37] And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. [38] But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” [39] And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
Matthew 14:24-27,36 ESV
but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. [25] And in the fourth watch of the night, he came to them, walking on the sea. [26] But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear. [27] But immediately, Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” [36] and implored him that they might only touch the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well.
In John 16:33, Jesus made a promise that has been fulfilled in all of our lives. He said, “In this world, you will have tribulation.” Every one of us has experienced the storms of life this fallen world bring. We shouldn’t sit around expecting them, but we should know that it is the common experience of every single person, including Christians. In the two scriptural accounts listed above, the presence of Jesus is a part of the stories of both storms, yet in one instance, he supernaturally rebuked the storm, and in the second instance, he comes to them supernaturally in the midst of the storm inviting them to walk on water. In the Mark passage, he miraculously makes the storm go away, but in the Matthew passage, he tells them, “Take courage, it is; do not be afraid.” Jesus didn’t just walk on water; he walked supernaturally through a storm, and he came to his disciples and told them telling them not to be afraid and inviting them to supernaturally walk through the storm. Which was the biggest miracle; Jesus making the storm go away, or Peter walking on water through a storm? Sometimes Jesus is there to perform a miracle and make the battle go away, but sometimes he is there inviting us to learn how to miraculously walk through storms. Either way, the presence of Jesus is there, and a miracle occurs, but they are different kinds of miracles.
If you’ve asked Christ to miraculously make your situation go away and it hasn’t, maybe he is standing in the middle of your situation, inviting you to supernaturally walk through your storm. When Jesus said, “Take courage, it is I,” the literal grammar should be, “Take courage, I am.” Jesus didn’t say that he caused the storm, but he did essentially say in those words “I am” that he was there, and he was in control, and that he was bigger than the storm, therefore “do not be afraid, because what threatens to be over your head is already under My feet; walk with Me.”