PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Luke 8:22-25
What do you sense the Lord saying to you in this passage?
“As they sailed, he fell asleep.” (Luke 8:23)
How could Jesus sleep in the storm… why wasn’t he helping?
But what could he do, his friends were sailors while he was a carpenter.
Jesus knew he was in good hands – his father’s and his friends.
This story does not tell us all to sleep when bad things are happening.
The disciples still needed to manage the boat, to do what they could.
As we do what we can do, we can trust God to do what only God can do.
Too often we act out of our anxiety and get in the way, making things worse.
Or like the disciples we are immobilized by fear and leave our positions.
Imagine a pilot leaving the cockpit on your plane when a storm comes.
Imagine passengers rushing into the cockpit when a storm comes.
In the storm, we need to do what we can do, and trust God to do what God can do.
As we do what we do through the storm, know that God will not leave his position!
Jesus is reminding (not rebuking) us to trust the Pilot through the storm!
There is a time to work, and a time to rest… but it is always time to trust the Pilot.
PRAYER
Lord, this is easier to write when I am not in a storm. Bring this reminder to mind the next time the waters get rough. Help me to breathe deep, do what I can, and trust myself to the Pilot!
I know that I can get anxious whenever a new challenge comes my way. It is good to ask: “Where is your faith?” In this case my faith. The disciples had Jesus in the boat as the storm surged around them. I too have Jesus’s gift of the HS in me. O Lord, where is my faith when I get anxious. Help me to take my stress and apply it positively to act instead of avoiding and procrastinating – yet always trusting that you care and will protect me! Lord I trust – help me overcome my anxiety in those moments when I think I have to do it on my own!
Lord Jesus you are the pilot of my life. Help me fully trust you even during turbulent times and be still enjoying the flight until I am landed in eternity at your feet.
Faith over fear. Jesus is always there, always present. It is He who says do not be afraid. I need to grow in that faith by nourishing it, growing in the word, standing upon His promises. Then and only then ill I have the courage to do His will knowing full well that He is ever present with me.
Standing on the promises that cannot fail,
When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,
By the living Word of God I shall prevail,
Standing on the promises of God.