Picture this scene. You're on a boat. Not a little fishing boat or pontoon like we have in Minnesota. A nice-sized boat, with room for a good number of people. Let's call it a yacht. I think we can all picture a big yacht right?
Ok, so you're on this yacht and have travelled out into the middle of Lake Superior, or Lake Michigan, or Lake Erie. You're out in the middle of this great lake and the water has been gently lapping the sides of the boat as you go along.
But, as often happens when travelling by water, the weather has a sudden turn. And clouds begin to form, the wind grows stronger and the water gets turbulent.
Things are not looking good. You may know where I'm going with this, but bear with me. We're still imagining.
You and your 12 friends, one of whom happens to be a rather special friend, are obviously in a pickle. And 12 of the 13 of you are anxious that you won't make it safely to shore. One, however, is uncannily calm. So calm, in fact, he's slept through the roaring of the wind and the rising of the waves.
You and your friends are loath to wake this man, but you finally reach the point where you can't bear the fear any longer and you dash across the deck of your yacht to shake the sleeping man awake.
And you're thinking all the time, how could he sleep through this? Doesn't he care that you're in danger? He's healed the sick and made blind men see! Surely he can help now!
"Save us!" you shout above the storm. "We're going to drown!"
And after he is so rudely awoken from his rest, this man turns to you, still unalarmed by the situation outside the boat and says bemusedly, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?"
And then he goes and says to the water, "Quiet! Be still!"
And. It. Is.
End scene.
I'd be willing to bet that every single one of the men there who saw Jesus rise from the dead would have responded to that scene a lot differently later in life.
But at that point, Jesus was dead on. They were of "little" faith. They were basically toddlers who heard the thunder crash and knew no better than to be terrified by it.
I remember taking care of my nephew last spring around this time. We were in Virginia Beach and Chris and Natalie were away for a few days. It was just Tristan and me. A thunderstorm rolled through and though when bed time rolled around only distant rubbling could be heard, Tristan still cried out to be held. Even remembering the loud bangs scared him. I know I was the same. But thunder doesn't frighten me anymore.
God allows storms in our lives for a reason. We see our weakness through struggle. Our faith is tested. And each time we overcome a new obstacle with God, our faith is strengthened. I'm sure you've come up against a problem in your life that has stopped you in your tracks. You look up at it and from where you're standing it's the biggest mountain in the universe. But as God walks with us and we learn to trust him more and more and we reach the top of each consecutive mountain, the one before it begins to look like a foothill. And the one before that like a fold on the prairie.
Life is not easy. I know ... duh. But we can live with the hope and assurance that what seems huge now will diminish as our faith grows. That's why we have to face it. So that we don't stay toddlers forever!
And remember, if it seems like God is sleeping on the job, it isn't because he doesn't care or see. It's because no storm is too great for him to handle. But he'll do it in his time, not ours.
