How would you answer if you were facing a life threatening disease, and you heard the voice of Jesus say, “Why are you afraid?” Or if you had a payment due today, no money, and you heard, “Why are you afraid?” Or you’ve recently lost your life long partner, and you find yourself alone and afraid. Suddenly you hear, “Why are you afraid?” Our first impulse to all of these questions might be to passionately and angrily explain to Jesus what we are afraid of.
Let me take you back. It had been a calm evening, but suddenly a storm emerged out of nowhere. Not a small storm, but a terrible storm of mega wind blowing, rain-thrashing proportions. It was so big the waves filled the boat. The disciples panicked. At first, they may have thought they were okay because Jesus was onboard. However, the storm continued to rage, and Jesus was not helping. As a matter of fact, Jesus nestled carelessly in the stern of the boat, asleep. They were facing a life threatening situation and Jesus was asleep! How could someone sleep through such a storm? How could the miracle worker allow such a storm to come upon them? Many questions must have gone through their desperate minds.
When the disciples woke Jesus, he asked them a question that must have made them wonder about his sanity! Jesus in the middle of a mega storm asked, “Why are you afraid?” I can imagine the disciples’ frustration with such a question. They must have thought Jesus was still asleep if he had to ask them why they were afraid. Wasn’t it obvious?! They were afraid because without divine intervention, they were in a huge storm and about to DIE.
However, Jesus was not being insensitive. He was asking the question we most need to be able to answer if we are going to face life’s battles in faith. Jesus knew, understood and cared about what they were facing. He was not asking for an explanation of what they were afraid of, rather by asking “Why are you afraid?” Jesus was challenging them to stop allowing the circumstances of their lives to provoke fear and remove peace. If they could correctly answer this question, they would have the ammunition to obey the most repeated command of Jesus: ‘fear not’.
There are only two reasons we are afraid. Number one, we are afraid when we don’t believe Jesus is able. If we are facing life threatening situations, and doubt the power of Jesus, there is no alternative to fear. However, it is evident the disciples did not question the ability of Jesus. When they woke him up they did not ask, Jesus do you think you can do anything about this storm? Few people who have been around Jesus doubt his ability. I’ve never been associated with a Christian that did not believe in the ability of Jesus to do the miraculous. However, all of us including the disciples struggle with the other reason we are afraid: We are not fully assured or convinced of the love Jesus has for us.
We may be convinced Jesus is able, but for any one of a multitude of reasons, we do not believe Jesus is willing to bring us through the storms of life. This was the disciples’ reason for being afraid as shown in their question for Jesus: “… don't you even care that we are going to drown?" Mark (NLT) The disciples were afraid because they were not convinced they were ‘safe’ in the loving arms of Jesus Christ. Their fear was not an indication they had no faith, but an indication they were aware of and believed in the power of the storm more than they were aware of and believed in the willingness of Jesus to see them through the storm.
We may think the reason we are afraid has nothing to do with Jesus, but with our own shortcomings. We may believe our misdoings block His help. However, when we discover the gospel revealed through the cross of Jesus Christ, our confidence is not in our flesh, but in His love. His love is greater than our failures. We must change the way we view God’s love by persuading our hearts of His love. One of the ways we accomplish this is by examining and meditating on scriptures about his awesome love such as:
Rom So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? Message
Romans Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, … not even the worst sins listed in Scripture: Message
Romans 8:38-39 I'm absolutely convinced that nothing …absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us. Message
Jer 31:3 God told them, "I've never quit loving you and never will. Expect love, love, and more love! Message
Today, if you are facing a mega storm of any type. Even if you have failed, done wrong, or feel weak in faith, realize when Jesus is in the boat with us the size of the storm we are facing does not matter. He is the Storm Defeater and He lives in us, making us capable of the things we can’t accomplish on our own.
So fear not! The love of Jesus is strong enough to see us through the eye of any storm we face.
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