Faith Through the Storm

It’s an old joke, but stick with me: 

What’s worse than finding a worm in your apple? 

Finding half a worm. 

When Betsy’s nephew, John, heard that joke (he was then aged 4), he decided to put his own spin on it: 

What’s worse than finding a worm in your apple? 

Being eaten by a bear. 

It’s hard to disagree with John’s logic. 

Something rather like those “What’s worse than?” situations happened when Jesus calmed a storm on Lake Galilee. Judging by Mark 4:41 (“They were terrified and asked each other, ‘Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!’”), if we could have spoken to the disciples after the miracle, the conversation would have gone like this:

What’s more frightening than being in a boat in a life-threatening storm? 

Being in that same boat after Jesus has calmed the storm.

Why did the disciples find the post-storm calm more terrifying than the mid-storm danger? It’s because we all like to think we’re in control. But when you meet someone who can hush a gale, the only possible conclusion is that he’s the one in control. It’s like a boxer who realizes his opponent is quicker, stronger, and more skillful than he is. Fear is a fitting response.

But here’s the thing we need to notice. Jesus doesn’t want his divine power to frighten the living daylights out of his disciples. He wants his presence to have the opposite effect. In verse 40 he says, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” Jesus expects those who believe in him to win the battle with fear because he’s with them and he loves them. It’s like being a child with a daddy who’s bigger than all the other daddies. You don’t need to fear those daddies, because your daddy is bigger. 

If Jesus hadn’t called us into a loving relationship with him, it would make sense to find him more frightening than any frightening thing (see Revelation 6:16). But through faith we’ve teamed up with Jesus. This staggeringly powerful Lord is on our side. As followers of Jesus, we can look firmly at frightening things and tell ourselves that Jesus is bigger than all of them. He may not calm the storm in the way we want him to. But he will lead us through it. He is bigger and he loves us.

In Christ,

Bernard Howard

[Image credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/closee/]