Matthew 8:23-27 Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”
He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?”
Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!” (NIV)
Why would Jesus lecture His disciples who were pleading for help?
I think what they were doing was smart.
The problem was not the fact they were asking for help, though granted they seemed to be demanding help. But such emotions are natural when there is a crisis. The problem Jesus identified was their mode of fear and despair. Reacting to desperate circumstances in a mode of despair only makes things worse. But if things look hopeless, fear and despair are natural. Why not fear? Because God is willing to help.
Honestly, for years the response of Jesus seemed to me to be a bit harsh. I did not understand why He was being so critical of His disciples in such a life or death situation. Yet I think Jesus wanted them to be certain, and for us to be certain, of a critical fact: He is God. He was sleeping in the boat, being fully human. Yet Jesus stopped the wind and the waves, the One who is fully God, One with the Father and the Holy Spirit.
The disciples asked the right question: “What kind of man is this?” The answer is He was Immanuel, which means God with us (see Matthew 1:23). And we can turn to Him. When desperate, if we humbly come to Jesus and ask for help, there can be goodness, even if it is nothing more than His peace. Why can we rely on Jesus? Because He is the One who has overcome the world (see John 16:33).
All encounter trouble in this world, and desperate circumstances sometime happen. They have for me. For some crises, you need to act quickly. For other crises, ones which are a swelling crisis with potential for terrible long term consequences, you need to invest time pondering the situation in order to make a careful decision. A person with a heart humbled by God will be able to make a wiser decision. I will speak for myself and say I sometimes still make mistakes when the pressure is on. Yet rather than getting upset with Jesus, goodness results when we ask Him for help.
You will be more prepared for future crises, which often come when we least expect them, if you keep soaking in two truths of Jesus. First, if you believe in Jesus as your Savior and Lord, your soul has been saved from spiritual death, and you have eternal life. Jesus is God the Son, and Jesus saves. Second, if you believe in Jesus as your Savior and Lord, Jesus is spiritually with you! Jesus wants to guide and encourage you daily, and Jesus is available to help you! We can humbly, and even quickly, ask God for help.
To celebrate my vaccination I went to a great water park in the Denver metro area. Though unemployed, and though all by myself, I made it happen. After a year of social distancing, there I was with numerous unmasked people outside at a neat place on a sunny Colorado day ready to have fun.
Being excited, I waded into the giant wave pool. When the wave machine was turned off, which they do every so many minutes to give people a rest, I went out to the deep end, where few people were, to swim around and tread water. To give an example of my swimming history, during a period of my life in the past decade, I swam strong for about one mile every week at a recreation center. Yet being older now, I do not have the stamina I had even a few years ago. And I had not been to a pool since the pandemic was declared. Treading water there in the calm wave pool, I could tell my stamina was lower.
Then the buzzer sounded and the wave maker was turned back on. Tired after treading water, all of the sudden I was dealing with waves which were too much for me to handle. I had not even considered the waves would be so much more challenging in the deep end. I had even thought they would be easier to deal with compared to back where they “broke,” as was the case at the beach I went to in my childhood. Yet a wave pool is different. Those powerful swelling waves required intense treading, and much stamina, which I did not have.
Suddenly I realized I was not going to be able to handle those waves much longer. It was a moment of realistic panic. Fortunately, in that moment of crisis I made a humble decision: Head to the emergency steps, those steps at the side of the pool there in the deep end. I had never seen anyone use those steps the time I was at that water park years before. Yet I realized I needed help, and those steps were help. In retrospect I praise God, because thanks to the vast work He has done in my heart over many years, I am someone who is incredibly more humble than I was years ago.
Slowly swimming towards the steps while working to rise over the waves, I got one gulp of water from a wave I did not completely clear. Fortunately I drank the water rather than inhaling. It was scary, because I was weak enough where I could have gone under had I inhaled water. They have top-notch lifeguards, but I would not have even been capable of yelling up the large wall to her while coughing and weak. Yet I was soon at the steps, safe. I made a terrible mistake, yet a humble response resulted in a happy ending.
Sometimes even Christians make mistakes where there is no safe way out and which lead to tragic consequences. However, for those who believe in Jesus, He has promised He will be with us always (see Matthew 28:20).
Hunter Irvine
The song “Be Still My Soul” is a grand illustration of this passage. Over six years ago I added a link to this live version by Selah, and I do so again. It is a classic.
