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?” And they were afraid and marveled, saying to one another, “Who can this be? For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him!”
Experienced fishermen went out to sea as they always did, and they sailed with their expertise. In their opinion, before the storm came, everything was under control because they knew how to sail. Yet, in time, they became helpless men crying out to the Lord for salvation. The reality is, if Jesus wasn’t in that boat at that particular time, the disciples would probably have drowned. Interestingly, there are things to take note of in this scripture.
1. Jesus asked them to go to the other side.
As believers, we must never set sail without direction from the Lord. May we never be ahead of him, and may we never be behind him. We must implore that He helps us keep pace with him. His protection is guaranteed as long as He is with you; for what catastrophe will it be if He is not?
Sometimes, we live our lives like we have everything under control, but that’s quite arrogant of us, leaving Him behind. We can only keep this up until the storm catches up with us and we realize our expertise is not enough.
2. Jesus asked them a very important question: “Where is your faith?”
It took a lot of guts to sleep in the middle of a storm, for Jesus, I mean. Maybe it wasn’t guts; maybe he already knew that if he was going to die, it wouldn’t be in the sea, for he knew by scripture the kind of death he was going to die.
Now, you have Jesus in our boat (on our inside); why are you still afraid? The reality is that whether Jesus was in the boat or not, the storm was going to come. Whether He is in our lives or not, the storm is going to come, but now that He is in your boat, why do you still think you would drown?
Jesus isn’t promising us a life without storms, but if he is with you in the storm, you can never drown. Now, you have heeded his instructions and obeyed his voice. Why are you still scared things won’t work out? Hebrews 11:6a tells us, “Whoever comes to him must believe that He is…” So he is asking you, “Where is your faith?”
3. The disciples woke him up, saying, “Master, we are perishing!”
The storm might have come, and it sure looks as if it’s going to swallow you up. Do the one thing the disciples did: wake him up!
Are you scared? You haven’t mustered enough faith, as it seems? Are you too scared to face the storm? Wake the One that sleeps in your boat. He is within you. He has to be in your boat, and for every believer of the gospel, He is.
You can say to him, “If you do not save me, it seems I might drown,” and Hebrews 11:6b assures us. It tells us, “…and he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”
As believers, faith is our reality. It is what stands in the way of what we see and what we want to see. The world isn’t free of troubles; we cannot totally avoid them. What we need to do is brace ourselves for them, standing firm on the word of God by faith.
