By Jeremy Toomey
Growing up in Michigan, you will inevitably hear the saying, “You don’t like the weather, wait five minutes.” The weather is constantly changing, and sometimes a storm will pop up. Thunderstorms and snowstorms are commonplace, but what happens when storms show up unexpectedly?
The Bible gives several accounts of Jesus’ followers facing a great storm. In one account, Luke tells us that Jesus instructed the Disciples to go to the other side of the lake. While they were sailing, Jesus fell asleep.
Suddenly, a fierce gale of wind descended on the lake, and the boat began to be swamped. The Disciples, fearing for their lives, woke Jesus up.
In Mark’s account, they said to Him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”
Sometimes storms arise in our lives that aren’t of the snow-and-rain variety. A loss of a job, a medical diagnosis, the death of a loved one, tension with family, or with a spouse. Sometimes things just seem to explode, and we are facing a fierce gale. It can feel like God is asleep, and we echo the Disciples’ question in our minds: “Do you not care?”
Jesus wakes up and rebukes the storm. The wind dies down, and it becomes “Perfectly calm.” He then says to the Disciples, (Mark 4:40) “Why are you afraid, do you still have no faith?”
As I read these accounts, something jumps out at me. During the storm, Jesus is asleep. He is at peace. The Disciples viewed their situation through the lens of human experience. Many of them were fishermen, so they knew what would happen if the boat sank in the storm. They were so scared of dying that they could only see the storm around them. In contrast, Jesus was sleeping. He had surrendered to the will of the Father. In their fear and panic, the Disciples saw Jesus asleep and saw it as negligence. Rather than taking comfort from the fact that He was at peace. When Jesus asks, “Why are you afraid, do you still have no faith?” I can almost hear the underlying or implied statement, “I wasn’t afraid, so why should you be?”
In the storms of life, we often get so caught up in the wind and waves that we forget to look to God. The question Jesus asks the Disciples can be asked of us. “Why are you afraid, do you still have no faith?”
Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”
Where is your comfort when storms arise? Are you shaken by the wind and waves, or are you taking comfort in the fact that Jesus is asleep in the boat?
