“And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea…”
“Following Jesus makes for an easy life”… said no one ever. Well, not anyone honest anyway. In the story of Jesus calming the storm, we must recognize that Jesus led them to a place where a storm of life could overcome their ability to survive.
Amongst the disciples were fishermen who knew the capabilities of the storms of the Sea of Galilee. They were accustomed to storms popping up out of nowhere due to the geography of the area that made such weather conditions possible.* They had experience, but this was something different.
This terrifying storm sent sea-faring disciples to the bottom of the boat to seek the help of a carpenter-teacher. Surely by this time they knew that He was something more. Undoubtably they knew that He was more than a teacher or a carpenter because neither of these vocations qualify Jesus to deal with a situation of nature.*
Even so, Jesus confronts their lack of faith: “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Faith comes by hearing (Romans 10:17). What was it that they heard that they were allowing the voice of the raging sea to drown out? Had they heard Jesus say who He is? Had they heard Jesus say that He cared? Had they heard Jesus indicate that they were going to the other side? Should they have calmed the storm themselves? We cannot be sure of where the faith of the disciples failed, but we can see the fruit of it: they were terrified and thought that they would die. They ran to Jesus out of fear of the storm, not out of a posture of understanding that all would be well because He was with them. Judging from the tone of the disciples, it does not seem that they gently awoke Jesus from His ministry-induced slumber.
Life is hard, and storms happen. Sometimes these storms happen en route to the place Jesus has promised us. That day with the disciples, Jesus promised them a journey to the other side (Luke 8:22), but a storm like no other came to stand in the way.
In the storms of life, what will you do? Will we blame Jesus for leading us into the storm? Will we surrender to the will of the evil tempest? Will we run to Jesus for help? Will we speak to the storms with the authority we have been given?
The good news: even if we come to Jesus without enough faith, He still calms the storm when we come to Him.
Today, take a step.
Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to speak to the storm in your life to be calm. Perhaps you need to go to Jesus about the storm, and He invites you to come with trust in Him, not just fear of the storm. Maybe today God wants you to see more of who He is, and He is using the storm to do it.
Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.
Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a step today… just one is fine.
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*Leon, Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew. Pillar New Testament Commentary (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1992), 204-207, and Keener, C. S., Matthew (Vol. 1, Mt 8:23-27) (InterVarsity Press, 1997).