FEAR AT SEA
“But He Said to them, ’Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?’ Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm” (Matthew 8:26).
The day had been exhausting for Jesus. He had been preaching, teaching, and healing the multitudes. As darkness fell, He boarded a boat with His disciples and in the midst of a calm sea, He fell asleep. But then, a storm came up that threatened to sink the boat.
The disciples were afraid for their lives. It wasn’t until they realized that they were all going to perish that they remembered Jesus and shouted out desperately because they didn’t know where He was. Suddenly, a bolt of lightening showed His sleeping silhouette. They reproached Him for having not cared for them in their emergency. Have you tried to survive the storms with just your own experience and resources, and not until you had tried everything did you call to Jesus for help? When you face tribulations, it is not that Jesus doesn’t care about your suffering. He is waiting for you to ask Him for help. Seeking Jesus in prayer should be our first and not our last option. Fear leads us to forget that Jesus is right there, like always, ready to calm our storms.
The cries of the disciples woke Jesus up and He came to their rescue. “Never did a soul utter that cry unheeded. As the disciples grasp their oars to make a last effort, Jesus rises. He stands in the midst of His disciples, while the tempest rages, the waves break over them, and the lightning illuminates His countenance. He lifts His hand, so often employed in deeds of mercy, and says to the angry sea, ‘Peace, be still.’ ’—The Desire of Ages, ch. 35, p. 335. Nature obeyed instantly, and the sudden silence was as impressive as the storm had been. The disciples were filled with reverence, the same reverence that you experience when you see an immediate answer to your prayer.
Fear destroys our trust in God’s goodness. It produces spiritual amnesia, destroys our faith, paralyzes us, and blinds us. That is why Jesus attacked fear so vigorously. Of the 125 imperatives that Jesus used, 21 are about not being afraid, or about having courage. “Though He sorrowfully reproves our unbelief and self-confidence, He never fails to give us the help we need. Whether on the land or on the sea, if we have the Saviour in our hearts, there is no need of fear.
Living faith in the Redeemer will smooth the sea of life, and will deliver us from danger in the way that He knows to be best.’—ibid, 336.
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Taken from: Devotional Thoughts for Women 2023
“DAUGHTER OF MINE” Do Not Be Afraid
From: Arsenia Fernandez-Uckele
Collaborators: Angelica Cuate & Esteban Cortes
