If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat by John Ortberg
Week 5: Chapter 4 — Seeking God in the Storm
Read Chapter 4 of If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat. Primary Scripture: Matthew 14:22–33; Psalm 107:23–31.
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The storm in Matthew 14 is not incidental to the story — it is the very context in which Jesus appears and in which Peter walks, and this chapter asks what it means to seek God not despite the storm but in and through it.
Discussion Questions
7 questions1.Ortberg notes something remarkable: Jesus sends the disciples into the storm. He doesn't protect them from it in advance. What does this tell you about how Jesus views difficulty in the lives of his followers?
2.The chapter explores the idea that storms — loss, failure, illness, uncertainty — are often the very settings where we encounter Jesus most vividly. Has this been true in your experience? Describe a 'storm' that turned out to be a place of unexpected encounter with God.
3.Ortberg writes that the disciples' first reaction to seeing Jesus on the water was terror — they thought he was a ghost. Why is it that we sometimes fail to recognize Jesus' presence precisely when he is nearest to us in our struggles?
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