Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
I am sure you have heard “X marks the spot.” The expression X marks the spot, indicates that someone has found the exact place or location of something. “X” can mark the spot, place, era, or occasion. It signifies where someone has buried something of value, like a dream or an idea. But X can also mark your storm–your place of fear. Whatever your X, please do not allow it to intimidate you.
Before we had personal computers, cellphones, and GPS, we purchased a road map to travel to another city. We used it to find our way to another state. Then, we would find our destination on the map and mark the spot with an X. The X marked the spot or place of our final destination. Even today, navigating a large shopping mall for the first time requires a mall map. When you find the map, look for an X. The X marks the spot where you are. There are several maps throughout the mall. If you lose your way, locate the nearest map. Find the X to know where you are.
When we want to remember specific places and dates, we mark them with an X. For example, we consider the date we met our spouse or where we took our first vacation. We mark these with a mental X. Sometimes, X is when we were young. It indicates when life was good or when we were in good health.
But X is not always about finding or remembering something. Sometimes, X marks the spot where we lost something and faced adversity. Adversity is from our adversary, the devil. So, when adversity comes, how do you mark it? Does the X you mark incite fear, or does it start faith?
X Marks Your Storm
In 2005, Hurricane Katrina inundated New Orleans. It was the most prominent and third-strongest hurricane ever recorded to make landfall in U.S. history. At the time, we were living paycheck to paycheck. So, we did not have many options to evacuate. My wife was a front desk agent at a five-star hotel in the CBD. She wanted to help guests who were visiting our city during the storm. The hotel provided us with a room on the sixth floor. We decided staying in the hotel during the storm would be safer than remaining in our home.
When the storm was over, we walked back to our home, and to our amazement, it was still standing. The levees breached in the Lower Ninth Ward, causing the city to flood slowly. When the water began rising in our neighborhood, we left our home. We went across the street to the school’s third floor.
After three days and four nights, we were finally air-lifted from the flooded city by the U.S. Army. We lost all of our possessions to Katrina. Hurricane Katrina was an X that marked a time of uncertainty for us. But we marked that uncertainty with an X of faith. We trusted God, and He made it all good.
When we go through memorable and traumatic events, those events qualify as storms. Everybody goes through a storm at some point in their life. Your storm may have been the time you lost your car. It could have been when you lost your job. It may also have been the time you lost a family member or a friend to death. Your storm could be an addiction or an unfavorable medical diagnosis. But no matter how great the storm, you must remain steady.
X Marks Your Fear
Jesus and His disciples encountered a fearsome windstorm as they crossed over the Sea of Galilee.
“Now it happened, on a certain day, that He got into a boat with His disciples. And He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side of the lake.” And they launched out. But as they sailed, He fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water, and were in jeopardy. And they came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water. And they ceased, and there was a calm. But He said to them, “Where is your faith?”
Luke 8:22-25
The disciples were afraid, but Jesus was not. For the disciples, it was an experience. For Jesus, it was a journey. The disciples allowed the terror of the storm to mark the experience with an X of fear. Yet, before the journey began, Jesus marked it with an X of faith. When He got into the boat, He said, “Let us cross over to the other side of the lake.”
Jesus spoke in the spirit of faith. The Scripture states, “We have the same spirit of faith. According to what is written, ‘I believed, and therefore I spoke.’ We also believe and therefore speak” (2 Corinthians 4:13). Jesus spoke His desired outcome; He believed what He said would happen, and then He went to sleep. Jesus had confidence that His Father – our God – was with Him. He knew that God was in full control of the situation.
X Marks Your Miracle
Jesus had a purpose for crossing the lake. For Jesus, X marked the spot of a miracle, for a man in Gadara needed Him. Gadara is about six miles southeast of the lower tip of the Sea of Galilee. As soon as Jesus stepped out of the boat, a man met Him. Demons had possessed this man for a long time. The man was naked and homeless. He lived in the tombs and was violent and dangerous. He was a menace to the area. A legion of demons controlled him. A Roman legion often had as many as six thousand men!
Satan is the thief (John 10:10) who robs people of everything good and then tries to destroy them. No amount of artificial authority or restraint can control or change the devil’s influence on us. Our only hope is in Jesus. Only He can deliver us from the evil one. Satan had robbed this man of his livelihood, and now he was trying to kill him. But Jesus saw his need and went looking for him.
The Bible says this man lived among the tombs. Satan had marked X in his life with death. He lived with the dead. This man had given up all hope of living a regular life. His dream of having a prosperous life was dead, and he was content to live with it. Are you living with dead hopes and dreams? Do you need a miracle to get your life back on track?
God Still Performs Miracles
The Scripture says in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord. These are “plans to prosper you and not to harm you.” They are plans to give you hope and a future.” You do not have to settle for less than God has planned for you. Satan may have killed your dreams and hindered your hopes, but you can live again. That’s because Jesus has a miracle with your name on it. It is yours for the asking. You only need to do what the man from Gadara did. Cry out for help. Expect that Jesus will show up with your miracle. Run to Him to receive it when He comes.
God performs miracles to restore the natural order in our lives. He does this to show His power to an unbelieving world. Additionally, miracles strengthen our faith and transform our personal view of Him. A powerful example is when Jesus restored the natural order for the man from Gadara. He took back everything the devil had stolen from him. This is clear when Jesus commanded him to return to his home (Luke 8:39). Jesus instructed him to proclaim the great things God had done for him. This signifies that Jesus restored his household. The Gadarene man, once a homeless demoniac, was transformed by Jesus into an influential evangelist.
