It’s one of those eternal questions of the ages: How can I trust God is still in control when I feel so fearful and out of control? The classic Bible story is the fearful disciples in the storm-tossed boat with Jesus, as Rembrandt immortalized in his painting (above).
Storms engulf our lives and we respond in fear. One time for me was when my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer. I returned alone to our house at night, after putting her on a plane for the 32-hour flight from Ethiopia to CA to begin seeing doctors, knowing I wouldn’t see her for weeks.
I have a clear memory of walking back down the gravel drive to close the gate, and I just collapsed to my knees and looked up at the bright stars in the dark African sky. I felt sick to my stomach and as I knelt there in the gravel for a long time, I just kept saying “Oh God, take care of her” over and over again. I had no idea what the future held, and had good friends who had died from metastasizing breast cancer. Ultimately her treatment was successful, but I know what its like to be in this boat with Jesus.
I also know that storms can be internal as well as external. The Psalms are a great repository of honest human emotion. Listen to Psalm 69:1-2:
Save me, O God,
for the waters have come up to my neck.
I sink in the miry depths,
where there is no foothold.
I have come into the deep waters;
the floods engulf me.
Have you ever felt this way? Water up to your nostrils, feet scrabbling to find a foothold…feeling like you’re sinking into a mire…every day a new struggle to keep your head above water? To me, this is a perfect picture of human anxiety, which is low-grade fear.
We can live with the low-grade fear of anxiety a good part of our lives. For some of us, it’s the fear of failure…that one is especially well-known to me. For others its fear of rejection or the fear of change… for still others it’s the fear of the future. There is lots we can be anxious about in this world. Indeed, fear seems to be on the rise in America.
In the storm-tossed boat, when the disciples call out in fear to Jesus he replies: “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?” Clearly the opposite of fear is faith. We are often told that the opposite of faith is doubt. If we remove their doubts or answer all their questions—then they’ll have faith.
But in the boat with Jesus, it’s when we TRUST that we do not fear.
Ray Stedman talks about a young evangelist from Africa whose life was filled with chaos. While in America, his wife was plagued with severe physical problems—asthma and bronchitis that kept her constantly weak and in bed. Now they were returning to their native country and he was dejected because she was sick again. Ray says he read this “Jesus and the storm” passage to them and then said, “remember, you can TRUST that the boat will not sink and the storm will not last forever. That is the definition of faith.”
Sometime later he received a note from his friends. They found a doctor in their own country who diagnosed a dietary deficiency which, when corrected, caused the asthma and bronchitis to disappear. His wife now in glorious, blossoming health, he had written at the bottom of the letter, “The boat will not sink, and the storm will not last forever.” But that is not the end of this story. Awhile later, he received another note from his friend. His wife was again in the hospital, and though her asthma was under control, the doctors now suspected leukemia. The African had written at the end: “pray that I will remember what you told me about the boat and the storm.”
Here’s the point: Jesus’ grace is always deeper than our faith. Grace always comes first. If we trust Jesus enough to call for help in our fears, help will come. With Jesus in our boat, our boat will not sink, and our storms will not last forever.
Question: What has been your experience in facing your fears? Please share it in a comment.
