September 10 I Saturday

Proverbs 8-9

2 Corinthians 3

“The disciples went and woke Him, saying, ‘Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!’ He replied, ‘You of little faith, why are you so afraid?’”   —Matthew 8:25-26

Some of us may be going through difficult storms such as losing our job, losing loved ones, facing adversity and having difficult, strained relationships. In the last two years as we navigated the pain and difficulty of the pandemic, what happened to us when the world changed? What fruit came out of our life? What did we turn to in the last two years of difficulty and challenge? What did we hold onto?

       In the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew draws our attention to people who, by faith, trusted Jesus, took Him at His Word and experienced His dynamic activity in their lives. While Matthew highlights individuals’ demonstration of faith, he records Jesus rebuking His disciples for their lack of faith in the middle of his account.

       Jesus and His disciples were on a boat in the Sea of Galilee caught in a storm. While the disciples were terrified and losing their grip, Jesus was sound asleep and in complete peace in the midst of the storm. The disciples lost sight of their faith and gave way to fear. Faith, however, is not wishful or mystical thinking, hoping to make something happen. In Charles Price’s commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, he writes, “Faith is a disposition of trust towards an object that allows that object to work on our behalf.” For example, when we place our faith in a plane, our faith in a plane allows the plane to operate on our behalf to fly us through the air; it does not matter if we have great faith or little faith, what matters is the object that we place our faith in. Faith is a disposition of confident trust based on experience and that trust grows as we have lived experience of the object’s sufficiency to act on our behalf.

       What we are being reminded of in the middle of this faith section of the Scriptures is that to be a disciple of Jesus Christ is not to avoid the storms or difficulties of life, but rather to be equipped with the resources to live within the storms of life. We do not need to be afraid, because our faith is not in good circumstances, but in Christ who equips us in the midst of our difficult circumstances. A deep calm will settle into our lives when our focus is on Christ, and not the wind and the waves around us.

       May we see the storm that we face in life as an opportunity for us to yield to Jesus in the midst of the storm, trusting in faith that He will operate on our behalf.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, You know the storms that I currently face in my life. Thank You for giving me the opportunity to surrender my fear and yield to You in faith to act on my behalf. Praise You!