"Where is Your Faith?"

Jesus got into the boat and started across the lake with his disciples.  Suddenly, a fierce storm struck the lake, with waves breaking into the boat.  But Jesus was sleeping.

The disciples went and woke him up, shouting,

“Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”

Jesus responded, “Why are you afraid?
You have so little faith!”
Then he got up and rebuked the wind and waves,
and suddenly there was a great calm.
The disciples were amazed. 
Who is this man?” they asked. 
“Even the winds and waves obey him!”
Matthew 8:23-27

As I read this passage today, the Lord prompted me to jot down a few observations:

1.  A few verses prior to this, Jesus said, "Let us go over to the other side of the lake."  He expressly did not say, "Let us go out into the middle of the lake and drown."  What Jesus intends to do, He does.

2.  The disciples - familiar with boating on the Sea of Galilee - only woke Jesus up as a last resort, after they had tried everything they knew to save themselves.

3.  The disciples' focus - the storm.

4.  The disciples' confidence - themselves, their skills and their experience.

5.  Jesus' focus:  their faith.

6.  Whether the disciples realized it or not, with Jesus in the boat, they were secure.

There is no question that life is not the way it is advertised.  It is not always the way we would like it to be.  There will be storms, both figurative and literal.  We will be assailed by circumstances over which we have no control, and by some of our own making.  

Today, our country is threatened by increasing moral ambiguity, political upheaval and economic uncertainty.  These trends affect each one of us individually and threaten the very future of our nation.  As one who has invested so much of my life in service to the nation,  I find it easy to be drawn in by the purveyors of anxiety, and to expend large amounts of emotional energy in formulating resentments and arguments toward people and events outside of my control.

But Jesus' words to me are the same as His words to the disciples:  "Why are you afraid?"  
(In Luke's account, His question is, "Where is - in what do you place - your faith?")

Today's passage reminds me of several things that contribute to lowered blood pressure:

1.  Jesus is with me, and He has promised to take me to "the other side."  What He intends to do, He does.

2.  Jesus is stronger than the storms that assail, and has all authority in heaven and on earth. (Matthew 28:18)

3.  Jesus' purposes are greater than the security of this or any other particular country.  He is doing what He has always been doing:  gathering a distinct people for His own possession who will live in fellowship with Him, to His present and eternal glory.

4.  Therefore, I need to keep confidence in Jesus, and not allow myself to be driven into an emotional frenzy over temporal events over which I have no control.

5.  I need to look to Jesus first - not last.  Prayer is not "the only thing left to do." Rather, it is the one thing I need to do first - and last - looking to the One who actually can do something about the circumstances in which I find myself.

6.  I need Him - and others - to help me remember these things, to "encourage me day after day, lest I be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin."  (Hebrews 3:13)  Jesus never, ever intended me to make this journey (to the other side) by myself.