Where is Your Faith?

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Dear Fellow Travelers,
“Now it came about on one of those days, that He and His disciples got into a boat, and He said to them, ‘Let us go over to the other side of the lake.’ And they launched out. But as they were sailing along He fell asleep; and a fierce gale of wind descended upon the lake, and they began to be swamped and to be in danger. And they came to Him and woke Him up, saying, ‘Master, Master, we are perishing!’ And being aroused, He rebuked the wind and the surging waves, and they stopped, and it became calm. And He said to them ‘Where is your faith?’ And they were fearful and amazed, saying to one another, ‘Who then is this, that He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey Him’” (Luke 8:23-25 NASB; emphasis added)?
On one of those days! If you are like me, then you can empathize with that phrase, because such days come all-too-often, or so it seems. How many times have you said (or thought), “That was one of those days!”, after having spent it dealing with everything—including the proverbial “kitchen sink.” For the disciples, this was going to be just a routine trip across the lake, but it turned out to be anything but routine, and for several reasons, not the least of which was a terrible storm, one with fierce winds and surging waves, so much so, that these seasoned sailors were fearful of dying—then and there.
As you know, it did not take them long to wake Jesus and inform Him of heir dilemma, hoping against hope that He could save them (I say that because they had never seen Him calm a raging storm). His response is, even to this day, quite amazing: He rebuked the fierce winds and the surging waves and, immediately, the sea became perfectly calm. I can only imagine that it took a few minutes for their emotions to catch up with what their minds had just witnessed. Before that “few minutes” could transpire, however, Jesus hit them with this soul-searching question: “Where is your faith?”
If you look at the text, you will see that their response was much like ours would have been (still is, for that matter!): “They were fearful and amazed . . .”
Fearful and amazed in the Presence of the I Am, trying to answer the most important of questions—Where is your faith?
I am wondering if they did not miss His point; after all, it was their fear and amaze-ment that evidenced the location of their faith—IN HIM. You think about that--