WHERE IS YOUR FAITH?

The storm had come out of nowhere! What had started out as a peaceful journey across a calm lake had turned into a frightening and dangerous voyage. The men on the boat were scared, as the ferocity of the storm increased and the relentless waves began to fill the small boat with water.

They had launched the boat when their leader had spoken confidently, “Let’s go across to the other side of the lake.” Soon after they cast off from shore, the leader fell asleep and His slumber continued even as the storm raged.

In frustration and fear, the disciples roused the Lord Jesus with cries of, “Master, don’t you care that we are in jeopardy?” (Luke 8:24 and Mark 4:37).

Jesus awakened, rebuked the storm, and immediately the wind and the waves calmed. He then turned to the disciples and very pointedly asked them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” (Mark 4:40).

The combination of the event and the questions of Jesus seemed to really stagger the disciples. They looked at each other with some alarm and amazement and asked among themselves, “Who is this man? . . . When he gives a command, even the wind and waves obey him!” (Luke 8:25, NLT). They seemed to be asking “Is this the Jesus we know? Does He have authority even over the forces of nature?” 

A lot in this story is applicable to our lives as followers of Jesus Christ today.

When Jesus said to the disciples, “Let’s go across to the other side of the lake” (Luke 8:22), He was not just giving instructions; He was also making a promise. 

The instructions were, “Let’s go across to the other side.” The promise is that He will be with us in the journey: “He got into a boat with His disciples.”

Forty-nine years ago the Lord gave Carol and me our first directions to follow in ministry with just two words, “Go east.” A few days after He breathed that into our hearts, an invitation came for us to minister for two weeks in New Jersey. We were living in California at the time but we knew we were to accept the invitation and we did. When the Lord spoke those words of instruction into our heart, it was also coupled with a promise. The Lord was not saying, “Go east and I’ll see you when you get there.” No, He was saying, “When you take Me at My word and are obedient, I’ll be with you until the full journey is complete” (see Matthew 28:20). Forty-nine years later He is still “in the boat with us.” He is still leading, still opening doors, still calming raging seas!

In the midst of the journey, the boat the disciples were in was overtaken by a storm. It was totally unexpected and unwelcome and the disciples felt they were in danger. They also seemed to think that because Jesus went to sleep, He didn’t care about their circumstances, that He was indifferent to the danger they were in.

Please remember who gave the disciples the instructions to make this journey. It was the Lord Himself who said, “Let’s go across to the other side.” The disciples had not done anything wrong and that is not why the storm had come. 

After He calmed the storm, Jesus turned to the disciples and asked, “Where is your faith?” In other words, He was asking, “Why are you acting like this? Have you learned nothing about faith? You said you had faith. Where did it go?”

Was this a test of their faith? Would the Lord allow difficult circumstances to arise to see if they really did have faith? Sometimes the storms go on while the Lord waits in order for us to exercise our faith.

The disciples had spent months with Jesus. They were with Him day and night. They were there when He performed His first miracle of turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana. They had heard Him teach countless times. They had seen Him heal hopeless cripples and lepers and watched Him as He raised a young man from the dead. Would they ever learn to walk in faith?

Jesus had been teaching and modelling faith but if this incident was a test, the disciples did not get a passing grade. It was, I believe, with some disappointment and frustration that Jesus asked the disciples, “Where is your faith?”

I believe this is a question He is still asking each of us today: “David, where is your faith?” “(Put your name here) ____________, where is your faith?” Are we fair-weather champions of faith? When the storms of life descend on us—and they will—do we still have rock solid confidence in Him? Do we really believe that He is with us at all times? When He doesn’t immediately answer our prayers, do we still boldly declare that our faith is in Him? Or, when the boat shows signs of sinking, do we panic and yell, “God, why have you forgotten me?”

So honestly now, “Where is your faith?”

”O Lord God of hosts,
    who is mighty as you are, O Lord,
    with your faithfulness all around you?
 You rule the raging of the sea;
    when its waves rise, you still them.” (Psalm 89:8-9, ESV)