Matthew 8:26
‘He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became perfectly calm.’
Any one would understand their reaction. What makes this more interesting is that these were fisherman. They don’t panic easily. It must have been quite a storm to scare them. Yet, Jesus asks why they were afraid. What did He know that they didn’t?
Jesus trusted God and His sovereignty. He was going to make it to the cross. He wasn’t going to die today. It reminds me of Abraham and Isaac. He knew that God promised that he would be the father of many nations. So, somehow Isaac would need to survive. The difficulty is that God asked him to sacrifice him. How do those two things work? Hebrews 11:19 says, “Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and in a sense, he did receive Isaac back from death.” How does Isaac being sacrificed and Isaac living to have children fit? While it didn’t make sense He knew that God could work it out.
Proverbs 3:5,6 tells us how to deal with these difficult things. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.” Jesus and Abraham didn’t lean on their understanding. Jesus knew He would live to make it to the cross. Somehow this storm wouldn’t take Him. He was able to rest during it.
That’s a big lesson for us. Our own understanding makes us panic. We make bad decisions from it. We have unnecessary anxiety as a result of it. We need to be like Jesus and Abraham and trust. I understand this, but don’t always follow it. I had some difficulties in the fall that sent me spinning. It was about a six week ordeal and it ended badly. At least in my mind. I’ve since given it to God and have forgiven those involved. That was not easy. God helped me.
Something else Jesus had was peace. True faith brings that. Philippians 4:7 says, “and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” It’s not a state of mind or positive thinking. It’s God’s peace doing the guarding. He rewards our trust with His peace. We can have peace in a storm.
Situations in life have many factors. The disciples didn’t have the understanding needed. God has to be factored in. It’s an x variable. An enormous, powerful variable. It makes up for all our lack. We can enter any situation without fear. Once in there we do what we think is best and trust. Things may take unexpected turns. We trust.
Looking back at my storm from the fall. It did end badly. That was difficult to process. I was faithful, but the situation brought me down a couple of pegs. I was used to God raising me up. He does, but it was His will for this to happen. I had trouble putting that together. Lord, help me through this. Like Job, we need to accept the good with the bad.
Thank You, Lord, for Your sovereignty, Your goodness and Your peace. Help us to accept the storms as well as the good times.