Luke 8:22-25 “Where is your faith?”


Luke 8:22-25 “Where is your faith?”

22 Now on one of those days Jesus and His disciples got into a boat, and He said to them, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” So they launched out. 23 But as they were sailing along He fell asleep; and a fierce gale of wind descended on the lake, and they began to be swamped and to be in danger. 24 They came to Jesus and woke Him up, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And He got up and rebuked the wind and the surging waves, and they stopped, and [f]it became calm. 25 And He said to them, “Where is your faith?” They were fearful and amazed, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey Him?”

Jesus got in the boat with the disciples. Jesus was in the boat with the disciples. He directed the disciples to go to the other side of the lake. So, the disciples launched out and they headed in that direction. As the disciples were heading in the direction, Jesus fell asleep. He rested. All seemed well until He was sleeping. Then a fierce gale and storm descended on the lake and the disciples where fearful. The disciples woke Jesus and said to Him, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” Essentially: we are doomed, we have no future.

Do I just go to Jesus when I am in need or when I am desperate? Do I think Jesus has fallen asleep in the middle of my life’s crisis? I have in the past just gone to Him because I am in a panic or crisis. I cry out, “Jesus wake up! I really need your HELP! Wake up!!!” I don’t do that quite as much now, but even in the unknown I need to go to Jesus. In the mysteries of life when I ask Him and when I ask myself whether we should come or go, I cry out and ask Jesus for answers. Of course, the answer is that if the Lord Jesus wills, if He directs, if He opens or closes a door. I must continue to look to Him to be with us, with our family, with me.

Jesus did not rebuke them for coming to Him. It was not because they woke Jesus up from a power nap that He rebuked them. There was no time limit with Jesus. Jesus does not say to me, “Neal you haven’t prayed today, so I’m not talking to you.” Jesus doesn’t play games like that. He does not say, “Neal you don’t tell me how great I am so you are down on my list of favorite people.” Jesus pursues me even when I am not pursuing Him, although currently I am pursuing and holding tightly on to Him. People let you down but Jesus does not.

Jesus then did His thing! He got up and rebuked the wind and the surging waves, and they stopped and it became calm. This worry, this concern, this fear was real and the Bible says that the disciples were in danger, yes real danger.

After doing the amazing miracle, Jesus asked the disciples, “Where is your faith?” That is a good question that, as a disciple of Jesus I should ask myself daily in order to check myself. What do I fear when Jesus is in my boat? What do I fear when Jesus is with me as I go? I have been on the go with Jesus, my family has been on the go with Jesus and my faith is in the great and good Jesus who has all authority.

Application: I will pray with Jade about the direction God is taking us, for more faith as He directs us and for soft hearts. We will pray to trust Jesus to have His way.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Greater Love - John 15:13

Image
John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. Love... The one thing we all need. The one thing we are desperate for is love. God is that love. God is a holy, holy, holy love r. Jesus displays God’s love relationally and personally. I can trust in God’s love because of Jesus. When I am faced with the perfection of God and His love, my own capacity to love is just pale and weak. In fact, the difference between my ability to love and God’s ability to love is so vast. Jesus’s love is seen throughout His perfect life, His perfect death and His perfect, tremendous, victorious resurrection. Jesus freely laid down His life and exchanged, not just heaven for earth, but heaven for death. The cost was massive but the gift of His love is free. Greater love has no one than this: than to lay down his own life for his friends. Jesus did this for me.   My debt Jesus paid, but my debt to Him is eternal. This debt is a debt of love and of loving service
Read more

One Verse Wonder - Judges 3.31

Judges 3 .31 -   After Ehud came Shamgar son of Anath, who struck down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad. He too saved Israel. This verse in the book of Judges tells the story of Shamgar. Tt is not the whole story of his life, it is just the story of a chapter in his life when he did what was needed to be done regardless of the odds. Shamgar was willing to go out and fight in the battle before him armed only with a simple oxgoad. He did so much with so little. The out come of his bold action was to save Israel. Shamgar was a hero in this chapter of his life and rescued the people God had sent him to save. My story is full of chapters, some good and some bad. I am 42 years old and the book is probably over half written. Also, within those chapters there are good and bad paragraphs. The bad are when God takes a back seat in my life where I leave Jesus behind and when I stop listening to Him. Often in the small things, not just the big things, there can be ugly bits in my
Read more