Matthew 8:23-27
And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him. And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep. And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish. And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!

Jesus had had a long day of ministry, as He often did, and so He took this opportunity of the boat ride to rest. But while He was sleeping, a storm was raging, and the disciples were panicking. I wonder how long they waited to wake Him. I wonder how long they fretted in their fear, debating with each other about what to do. There was no rest for them as the winds howled and the waves surged. But eventually the disciples do go to Jesus with their desperate request. They truly thought death was nigh, but they trusted just enough to ask Him to save them. And when Jesus awakes, the first thing He sees is their fear, not their faith.

The truth is, there are many fearsome things in this world that can drive us to the same kind of panicky place as these disciples. The prospect of death is scary. The storms of life, those big and powerful things outside of our control, can be frightening. And throughout Scripture, people are told not to fear, because there are many things that we, in our human condition, tend to be afraid of.

Jesus reveals the counter to fear, and that is faith in Him, when we can trust that an all-powerful and loving God is with us in the midst of whatever fearful situation we may find ourselves in. When we can believe that God can do something about our current circumstance that maybe we couldn’t even imagine. When we are willing to cry out to Him for help and expect that He knows and will do what is best in that moment.

Jesus may have rebuked the disciples first for their little faith, but then He did rebuke the wind and the waves. He calmed the storm with His command. He was never not in control of this situation. He brought peace to the chaos. And He can do the same for us, no matter what our current storm may look like. In the end, this fearful experience brought greater faith to the disciples as they came to understand more about who Jesus was and what He could do. Anytime we exercise our faith, it grows. Anytime we see the Lord work on our behalf, it provokes greater trust and confidence in Him. And the more we understand of Him, the less fear we will have when the storms of life come our way.