There is war in Israel, antisemitism on the rise, Covid-19, economic stress, riots, a hotly contested election, world unrest in additional to individual, personal struggles. When we focus on these things, we can become anxious and fearful. Even Christians can get discouraged, especially when they expect God to make it all go away and He doesn’t. Yet Jesus allows these things to happen in our lives so we can learn to trust Him. The same thing happened to the disciples in Jesus’ day.
Many people followed Him for healing and free food. Jesus challenged them to become disciples and serve Him, not expect Him to serve them. He told them there was a cost of following Him (Matthew 8:18-22). Then He gave them a test to strengthen their faith.
Jesus got in a boat with His disciples and immediately fell into a deep sleep (Matthew 8:23-27). Jesus was a human being just like us (Hebrews 4:15-16). He knows what we go through because He experienced it Himself. He was so tired even a terrible storm didn’t wake Him up. The storm was so bad the waves swept over the boat. The disciples became afraid and thought they would die.
Jesus was testing their faith. They were in a hopeless situation and couldn’t do anything to help themselves. They turned to Jesus for help, but did so out of fear, not faith. “You of little faith, why are you afraid?” Jesus said to them (Matthew 8:26). When we have little faith, we have big fear. If we have big faith, then our fear will be little. We can’t have both fear and faith, just one or the other.
Sometimes it seems like Jesus is asleep and not answering our prayers. He wants us to learn to trust Him when storms come in life. The disciples had promises of God’s presence and protection, so they had no reason to be afraid (Psalm 118:6; Joshua 1:9; Isaiah 40:31). We, too, have God’s promised provision and personal involvement in our lives (Philippians 4:19, 13; Hebrews 13:5; Romans 8:28; 2 Corinthians 12:9).
Jesus spoke to the storm – imagine doing such a thing! The storm obeyed and immediately disappeared. Here we see the God side of Jesus as well. He is both man and God. As man, He knows what we go through, and as God, He is in control of all that happens.
That doesn’t mean He will always do whatever we want to make our life easy and smooth. No good parent does that for their children. He could have prevented the storm from every happening, but He knew the disciples needed the opportunity to stretch their faith. He allows storms in our lives for the same reason. We need to see them as opportunities to trust and respond in faith, believing His promises in His Word.
My God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19
I will never leave you or forsake you. Hebrews 13:5
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28
I can do everything through him who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13
My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. 2 Corinthians 12:9
How do you respond to the storms in your life right now? Which rules in your heart: faith or fear? Read the verses above. Write some of them down to memorize and say whenever trials come. They will help you keep your faith strong and your fear weak.
cto Rev. Dr. JERRY SCHMOYER
Christian Training Organization
Jerry@ChristianTrainingOrganization.org
(India Outreach, Spiritual Warfare, Family Ministries, Counseling)
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