A vicious wind swept down from the mountains onto the lake. Moments before, the water had been calm, but now plain sailing had suddenly become plain terrifying, as the wind whipped-up enormous waves.

The little fishing boat, open on the top to allow their trade, suddenly became a trap, for those fishermen. The great waves were breaking into the boat and filling it with water.

They all knew what was coming next. As seasoned boatmen, they’d long feared this sloshing water, knowing that at any moment it could suddenly destabilise the boat, and flip them into a watery grave.

And yet there was one person on the boat fast asleep. They woke him up with a rebuke, “Lord, don’t you care that were perishing?”

And there was Jesus, waking up the middle of a storm. What would you expect his response to be? “Oh, I’m terribly sorry, I had no idea! Are you perishing? If only I had been awake. I would never have let you get into this mess!” But is that what he said?  No!

Mark his first words,

“Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Matthew 8:26

After that, he got up and stilled the storm with a word.

If you add together the three accounts in Matthew Mark and Luke, you realize that he also questioned his disciples after rebuking the wind and waves: “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” If that wasn’t enough, he questioned them a third time, “Where is your faith?”

Does Jesus expect us to trust in him, completely, in the middle of a terrifying storm? Actually, James tells us that when we’re suddenly surrounded by trials, we’re to consider it… to count it all joy! Now that takes faith!

With or without faith, storms come. With faith however, you can smile at them.
That’s worth having.