“’Where is your faith?’ he asked his disciples. In fear and amazement they asked one another, ‘Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.’” (Luke 8:25, NIV84)

Jesus was asleep in the boat. How could He sleep? Was He oblivious to the storm and the impending doom? Did He not care that the disciples were struggling and fearing for their lives? A storm had kicked up so severely that it had experienced fishermen shaking in their sandals. The disciples finally woke Jesus up and declared, “Master, we are going to drown!” Jesus got up and rebuked the wind and the waves and it became calm. Jesus said to them, “Where is your faith?”

What do we learn from this event? Were the disciples not to be afraid? How could they not? All their senses were telling them that they were in big trouble. Their world was getting turned upside-down. Has your life ever been turned upside-down? What did you do? The disciples woke Jesus up. Why did Jesus ask them where their faith was? Does He wonder the same thing about us today? I think we need to go back and see the stark contrast between a sleeping Jesus and the flailing disciples to understand what was going on. They did not wake Him up so that He would calm the storm. That thought was furthest from their minds. They wanted Jesus to wake up and share the misery of their impending doom (“we are going to drown”). They had the Creator of the universe in their boat with them and they were not pleading for His help. They were declaring their fear. When we pray, we have the God of the universe inclining His ear toward us that He might listen and answer our prayer. He isn’t caught up in the chaos of the moment because He is a God who is in complete control. Things don’t catch Him by surprise. Jesus was calmly present during the storm and willing to reach into the disciples’ chaos to bring peace, which is exactly what He did. He rebuked the winds and the waves and the seas became calm. And so did the hearts of the disciples. It must have been something to realize that God was as close as He was. They were in utter amazement, but incredibly thankful that Jesus came from the eternal realms to calm the storms that plagued the hearts and souls of temporal man.

May we find peace and calm in the fact that, in our prayers, we have access to that same Jesus when the storms of life kick up in our lives.

Peace!

Pastor Tom

www.firmlyrooted.church