Where’s Your Faith?

“And He said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?”  Mark 4:40

This verse was taken from Mark 4:36-41 which tells of the time that Jesus and His disciples were crossing the Sea of Galilee by ship, and a fierce storm arose.  Jesus was sound asleep, but the disciples were beside themselves with fear.  I can understand that kind of fear.  I am not a big fan of boats and deep water since I can’t swim.  I haven’t taken very many boat rides in my lifetime.  I rode on my uncle’s fishing boat on a local lake years ago.  We rode near the dam where the water was about 200 feet deep.  Of course, I had on a life jacket, but was still uneasy.  I rode on a riverboat on the Tennessee River and almost became seasick.  Once I took a boat ride at Disney World and a few years prior to that, went on a cruise to the Eastern Carribean.  Two days of the cruise were spent completely at sea.  I was really glad to see land when we docked in the Bahamas.  All of these water adventures were calm and steady, not like what the disciples were experiencing.

The waves were splashing onto the deck of the ship, and the disciples went to Jesus and awoke Him in their urgency for Him to do something.  To their credit, they believed that He could rescue them from the storm, but they weren’t willing to take Him on faith that they would arrive at their destination safe and sound even as He slept.  In other words, their weak faith required them to see Him act right then and right there.  Was He going to let them all drown, ending His mission on earth, and becoming a footnote in the pages of history?  Of course not.  However, we are just like those disciples.  We pray and expect an instant answer to our request, but when the answer doesn’t come immediately, that’s when our faith must be strong.  God doesn’t work on our timetable.  He knows when, what, where, and how to solve our problem.  It could be that He doesn’t change our situation; instead, He changes us.

Can you imagine being filled with fear about some situation going on in your life while Jesus is standing right in front of you looking into your anxious eyes with His eyes of love and compassion as He holds the power of heaven and earth in His hand?  Would you feel silly, ashamed, or embarrassed that you didn’t by faith trust the King of kings and Lord of lords to handle whatever was causing you to be so fearful?  Fear is an emotional response to something that we cannot handle.  I have had plenty of fearful times in my life as we all have had, from fear over the terminal illness of a loved one to being called on in school by the teacher.  I remember trying to hide behind the student sitting in front of me as if that really worked.  Teachers have eyes in the backs of their heads, and they know all the tricks because they, too, were once students.  If I knew the answer to the question, I usually still didn’t want to get called on just in case I was wrong.  No one likes to be laughed at.  Imagine the fear of a police officer who has to pull someone over particularly at night or the fear when waiting on medical test results.  There certainly is no lack of things to fear.

Some fear is a good thing.  We are given the emotion of fear to protect us from danger.  We keep our doors locked at night for fear of a break in by someone who might do us harm.  We fear poisonous snakes, bears, mountain lions, and other wild animals and stay clear of them.  Today we seem to have more to fear than ever before.  Many parents have sent their children to school, but they never came home again.  Much of what we fear is completely out of our control.  That’s why we need faith and lots of it.  Even if we have a really strong faith, I think that we will never be completely free of fear until we reach our home in heaven where the Light is always on.  The next time that fear grips your heart, imagine Christ standing with you, looking into your worried eyes and asking, “What are you doing?  I’ve got this, so stop fretting.  You don’t have the ability to handle this, but I do.  So, let Me.  I love you.”