Again, while crossing the Sea of Galilee, Jesus fell asleep. As He was sleeping a "windstorm," referred to as a "tempest" or "squall" in some translations, suddenly came down upon the sea (v. 23). A "tempest" is a very intense and violent wind with heavy rain that would suddenly, and without warning, come down upon the sea. It was a common experience on this sea, because it was an inland sea in a low, shallow basin surrounded by hills. Storms would often hit without warning, which is a frightening thing to experience on the Sea of Galilee even today. The ship could quickly be sunk and all aboard could be drowned!
That is exactly what was happening. The boat was filling with water and it was in jeopardy of sinking (v. 23). I can just imagine the disciples frantically bailing water in fear for their lives! Yet, there was Jesus, sound asleep. And why not? After all, He is the Creator of the universe. With nothing to fear, of course He could sleep through anything. So the disciples came and woke Him, which was the smartest thing they could possibly do (v. 24).
Immediately, Jesus woke up, and He "rebuked the wind and the raging of the water. And they ceased, and there was a calm" (v. 24). Then Jesus turned to His disciples and questioned their faith. "Where is your faith?" He asked them (v. 25). Of course they could only marvel at the miracle they had witnessed, as they said, "Who can this be? For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him!" (v. 25)
The disciples, when they woke Jesus from His sleep, did so in trust, as they should, yet their statement to Him was a statement only of fear. "Master, Master, we are perishing!" (v. 24). They woke Him because they feared for their lives in the storm, yet they did not understand His ability to save. They seemed to say, "The situation is impossible, Lord. There is nothing that can be done!" When they should have said, "The situation is impossible for us. That is why we are turning to you. You can do it, Lord. You can save us. We trust you to watch over us!"
That lack of trust on the part of the disciples is why Jesus questioned, "Where is your faith?" (v. 25). Jesus can do it! Trust Him! That is the message. When storms of any kind come into your life, trust Jesus. Then, after the storm is gone and all is calm in your life, trust Jesus. At all times and in all things, trust Jesus. Learn to do that, and you will experience both His love and His power on a daily basis.
Let me illustrate: Some of you know this story, but I take this opportunity to share it because it is a perfect illustration of this Bible Insight. During seminary I served a church part-time as a youth pastor. One summer I took three young men from my youth group on a camping and canoeing trip on the boundary waters between Minnesota and Canada. The boundary waters is a wilderness area made up of a series of lakes and streams. Only a limited number of people are allowed in on any given day, and no motor boats are allowed.
After several days of hiking and camping, canoeing and fishing, our final night arrived. Being completely alone in God’s creation, having seen no one in days, we set up camp, ate dinner, and went out on the lake to fish. Having caught several large northern pike, I noticed that a storm was fast approaching, so we left the lake and returned to camp. Having secured everything for the night, we entered the tent as the rain began to fall. We then read Scripture together and prayed. I reminded them of their goal to experience God anew in the midst of His creation, to be drawn closer to Him in their walk with Jesus. Then we settled in for the night and continued to talk for a time.
Realizing this storm had a lot of lightning and thunder, one of the boys suggested counting the time between the lightning and the thunder. As we continued to talk, we began to count. "Seven seconds," one of them said. "Six seconds," someone else said on the next bolt of lightning. "Five seconds." "Four seconds." The lightning came closer with each bolt. "Three seconds," one of the boys said. "Two seconds." Then, suddenly and without warning, the lightning and the thunder was simultaneous. A huge bolt of lightning came right through the door of the tent and struck me on the right side, lifting me off the ground. The tent puffed out like a balloon from the impact and a blue light momentarily filled the tent. The lightning went through me and scattered up Doug’s side. Doug was the youngest at 15. Bob, who would turn eighteen the next day, and Chip, age 17, were rolled into the corners of the tent.
I remember being lifted off the ground as I was hit and everything went into slow motion. I remember my thoughts. "Lord, if its time to go home, I’m ready." But I didn’t go home. Coming to rest back on the ground, I was unconscious for a time. I heard everything that was being said. Chip took charge, as would be expected, and they tried to help Doug, as he was at least partially conscious and moving in pain. They didn’t say it, but they thought I was dead.
As I remained unconscious, I couldn’t feel anything from the waist down and thought my legs had been blown off. I didn’t want to look. Finally, I decided that I had to look. It was then that I woke up and looked. I still couldn’t feel a thing, but I could see that my legs were still there. Doug was also coming around. What I thought was only a couple of minutes, the boys told me was more like 20 or 30 minutes. It was probably that much longer before the feeling returned to my legs and I was able to stand and walk again.
It was then that we joined hands and began to pray, turning to Jesus for help. Doug prayed, "Lord, please calm the storm." Immediately, the lightning ceased and the rain let up to a light sprinkle and all was calm outside. We assessed the damage. Everything metal was destroyed. We knew we could not find our way out in the dark, so we bedded down for the long night ahead.
Every time I tried to go to sleep I relived the whole thing again in my head. I couldn’t sleep. I was sure it was the same for the boys. So I prayed, "Lord, if you could just send someone to reassure us it would help. Anybody will do. Just someone to tell us that all will be fine." Immediately, the lightning started up again. When it did, a canoe got off the lake on our landing! We hadn’t seen anyone in days and now someone was here at our campsite. "Oh, the Lord is good," I thought to myself. I didn’t know how good. Bob went out and explained our situation, and one of the men said he was a doctor from the local hospital. "Oh, how good God is," I added.
The doctor cleaned our wounds, assured us the burns were only superficial and could wait for morning. He also said he could take us out at night if we wanted, because he was up there often and knew the boundary waters "like the back of his hand." He lied! Turned out that he hadn't been up there in several years and our wounds were much worse than he said. But they could wait till morning and he did reassure us; after all, that was what I had prayed for. We said we could wait for morning and gave him our fish for his "tent call," telling him to make up a good fish story, because no one would believe the truth. He then told us how to find a boy scout camp on the next lake, saving us several hours of canoeing the next day.
When we arrived at the hospital, some 15 hours after the lightning strike, the nurse who treated us seemed very shook. When Doug asked her why, she said she cleaned wounds from lightning all the time but never this bad. My burns were second and third degree, just shy of needing skin grafts; obviously a direct hit from the lightning. She said that people who are hit directly and whose wounds are this bad go to the morgue, not the hospital, and they don’t walk in on their own power! This was truly a miracle of God.
Note the difference between this 15 year old, Doug, and the disciples of Jesus. The disciples seemed to fear that there was no hope as they turned to Jesus. Doug knew that there was. The disciples turned to Jesus hoping He could help, and of course they soon found out that He could, yet they feared the worst. Doug turned to Jesus knowing that He could help. It was as though Doug was saying, "Jesus, you can do it. Take care of this for us." That is what Jesus wants you to do each day.
Whenever any kind of storm hits your life, turn to Jesus and say, "Lord, you can do it. Please take care of this for me." Then, on those days that are calm and there is no storm, still turn to Jesus and trust Him. Trust Him on the calm days because of the help He gave you during the storms. Trust Jesus, storm or no storm. Amen.
Whenever any kind of storm hits your life, turn to Jesus and say, "Lord, you can do it. Please take care of this for me." Then, on those days that are calm and there is no storm, still turn to Jesus and trust Him. Trust Him on the calm days because of the help He gave you during the storms. Trust Jesus, storm or no storm. Amen.
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