No matter what our circumstances are, they open two paths for us, one of faith and trust, the other of doubt and fear.
No matter what our circumstances, our reactions are always a measure of our trust in God.
Our circumstances simply reveal where our faith, our trust, lies.
One day Jesus wanted to go to the other side of the lake. During the crossing, Jesus slept. Unexpectedly the circumstances changed — they were suddenly in a storm.
The disciples were men of the water—they knew storms; they had experienced the deadly power of storms. Storms were the unpredictable giants they could not control, and now they were in one.
And Jesus slept.
Awakened by the panicking men; Jesus rebukes the wind and the waves and then, a sudden incredible calm. This was impossible! This was beyond the disciples ability to grasp.
The sudden power encounter between Jesus and the storm left them both terrified and awestruck. This was not the Jesus who taught the masses, who healed the sick and the crippled or even the Jesus who cast out demons. This Jesus stilled a killer storm with a word and brought them out of the brink of death into a perfect calm. This was beyond their comprehension.
Astonished, all they could say was, “Who is this man?”
The answer came in the form of a rebuke. “Where is your faith?”
Their faith, not unlike ours, was in the storm they were entering. They truly believed that the storm was all powerful. Therefore they did not look to Jesus for the solution, but resigned themselves to dying with Jesus in the storm.
When the storms in our lives become bigger than our faith in Jesus, we may cling to him as we resign ourselves to drown, and we forget that our fears or doubts are just challenges to our faith in the one who calms the storms and quiets the winds.
“According to your faith let it be done to you” Matthew 9:29