Unfortunately, you don't know how much you trust Jesus until you really have to.
That’s because it’s easy to sing about trusting Jesus when the boat isn’t sinking.
In Matthew 8, the disciples follow Jesus into a boat, and along the way, the weather gets bad. Matthew calls it a “great storm" as waves are crashing over the boat. The disciples are panicking. And not-so-little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head.
Now, some of these disciples were fishermen. They knew how bad storms could get. So, the surprise may not have been the storm itself. What frightened them was that Jesus didn’t seem nearly as concerned about it as they were.
“Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”
I wonder how many of our prayers are some version of that.
Jesus, don’t you see what’s happening? Don’t you care? Why aren’t you doing something?
And Jesus responds with his own question: “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?”
Of course, Jesus doesn’t suggest there is no storm. Because of who he is, he challenges their assumption that the storm wins over Jesus. So, he gets up and rebukes the wind and waves. And suddenly, the disciples have a different question: “What kind of man is this?”
Like it or not, that’s what storms can do. We want Jesus to use our faith to calm the storm. Sometimes, Jesus uses the storm to deepen our faith.
Following Jesus doesn’t mean you’ll never find yourself in rough water. Actually, the disciples ended up in that storm after they followed Jesus into the boat. But they learned something there that they may not have learned safely from the shore. This short story begins with a storm causing great shaking. Then there was a great calm. And it ends with great amazement.
No matter the size of the waves, Jesus is still in the boat with you.
Stay blessed...john
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