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What do you do when the storm hits? Not the kind of trouble you can manage, but the kind that comes out of nowhere, fills the boat and leaves you wondering whether you are about to go under.
Reading Matthew 8:23–27, I kept coming back to Jesus asleep in the boat while the storm was raging around Him. The disciples were panicking. Several of them were experienced fishermen who knew that lake well, and yet they were afraid. They were afraid, they woke Jesus, and His response was:
‘Why are you afraid, you of little faith?’
Jesus speaks to their fear before He speaks to the wind. Before He deals with the storm around them, He deals with the storm in them.
There are probably so many truths contained in those words, but what hit me, this time, was simply this: Jesus was with them. If He was there in the boat, why were they so afraid?
That challenged me, because there are so many times when circumstances around us can feel completely out of control and impossible. The storm is real, the danger is real and the pressure can be intense, but if we know that He is with us, then perhaps our response does not need to be panic. We may not always know immediately what to do, but we know who is with us. That changes everything.
Faith, authority and waking Jesus
Sometimes nothing changes if we do not exercise our faith and authority when He calls us to. Just two chapters later, Jesus gives these same disciples authority (Matthew 10:1), and He has given His followers authority too (Luke 10:19). At other times we can simply wake Jesus and calmly ask anything we need, without that sense of panic or that it’s beyond His control or ability. There is no need to panic in the storms we face, as God has given us solutions, authority and, most importantly, Himself.
Knowing if we should exercise our faith, authority or ‘wake’ Jesus is something we should ask the Holy Spirit to help us with. But either way, we know He is the solution and He has the solution. We should know who we are and who He is. Nothing is impossible for Him, and nothing is impossible with Him.
We do not need to live as though everything depends entirely on us. We have access to Him, we can ask Him, we can trust Him, and we can learn to respond from faith rather than fear.
Faith grows from knowing Him
When Jesus says, ‘You of little faith,’ it makes me think that faith is so connected to knowing who He is. If we really know who Jesus is, and if we really believe what we know about Him, then our response to the storm begins to change. We can laugh in the face of adversity instead of crying, be at peace when everyone is panicking and see with His eyes the reality of the situation.
We know what He can do. We know nothing is impossible for Him. And if we trust what He says, then when He tells us that He has given us authority, we can trust that too. He does not lie. What He says is true.
Let our faith feed on that truth to grow, not simply by trying harder to feel brave, but by knowing Him more deeply, knowing who He is, knowing what He says and knowing who we are because He lives in us. We can be in full peace and do what He asks us to. Knowing in full faith that it will be resolved because it’s God we are going to, it’s God we have and nothing is impossible for Him. Nothing is out of His ability or control.
Perhaps that is where peace comes from too. Not from the storm disappearing immediately. Not from everything around us suddenly looking calm. But from knowing that Jesus is there.
He was asleep
I love the fact that He was asleep. The disciples were terrified, but Jesus was not worried at all. There is something almost humorous in that contrast, but also deeply comforting. The situation that felt completely overwhelming to them had not overwhelmed Him.
And perhaps sometimes that is the invitation. Maybe there are times when we are called to wake Him and ask. Maybe there are times when we are called to speak to the storm. And maybe there are times when we are simply called to lie down beside Him and rest, because if He is not worried, perhaps we do not need to be either.
That does not mean the storm is not real. It means His presence is more real still.
Where our peace comes from
Our peace should not ultimately come from everything around us being peaceful. If that is where our peace comes from, then every new storm has the power to take it away. Our peace has to come from Him. From knowing He is with us. From knowing who He is and how good He is. How well He loves us. From knowing that nothing is beyond His ability. And from knowing that whatever He asks us to do in that moment – wake Him, trust Him, speak, wait or rest – He is there with us in it.
So what storm are you facing right now? Before you panic, and before you try to fix it all in your own strength, stop and remember who is in the boat with you. Ask the Holy Spirit what He is asking of you – to wake Him, to speak, to wait or simply to rest – and then do it in faith. He has not left the boat.
The storm may be loud, but His presence is greater.
And perhaps faith is learning to let that truth become louder than anything else we face.
Keep this truth in front of you: our Sleep in the Storm A3 art print shows Jesus asleep in the boat while the disciples panic – a daily reminder of when to rest, when to speak and when to wake Him. See it here.
