A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat,
so that it was already filling up.
Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion.
This scene may serve as a metaphor for something many of us frequently experience. Difficulties so dire arise that it would seem to us that no one could ignore them. In this sense we experience storms that are so intense that it would seem that no one could remain asleep. Yet somehow Jesus seems, if anything, more likely to be asleep during these storms. Maybe it only seems as though he sleeps more often during the storm because it stands out more to us. Nevertheless his ability and willingness to remain asleep is something we often experience as a challenge of faith.
They woke him and said to him,
“Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”
Jesus was not absent. He was with them in the boat. Yet he was not immediately responsive to what was for the disciples their most urgent concern. The winds blew and the waves crashed but he did nothing. Was he truly indifferent, as the disciples feared?
He woke up,
rebuked the wind,
and said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still!”
The wind ceased and there was great calm.
Jesus arose and demonstrated his compassion by doing what his disciples desired. It was not merely a concession to human weakness, as though they ought to have simply gritted the teeth and sailed onward through the storm without bothering him, as though to wake him at all was somehow a fault.
Then he asked them, “Why are you terrified?
Do you not yet have faith?”
The problem with the disciple's prayer was not the content of the request but the attitude of those who made it. We are meant to wake Jesus when our circumstances overwhelm us. But even then we are meant to go to him with faith. We are not supposed to see the fact that we have been exposed to this or that trial as evidence that the Lord does not care for us. Why does the Lord allow for storms in our lives? It is often precisely so that we might learn to trust him more. We are meant to be able to see water filling up our little boats and yet go calmly and quietly to our sleeping Lord, to ask him in faith to save us, and to never doubt that he cares enough to do so.
We may ask, what if Jesus doesn't calm the storms immediately? Are we then justified in losing some of our trust in his power or in his compassion? On the one hand, we don't want to experience any trial longer than is his plan for us, which we otherwise might if we don't ask right away. On the other, even when we do ask immediately, he sometimes seems difficult to awaken. In those moments he seems to us especially indifferent to the fact that we are perishing. Yet if we set our minds in advance we will be better prepared when the inevitable occurs. Scripture tells us that when we come to serve the Lord we ought to prepare for trial (see Sirach 2:1). We know that these trials are the disciplines of the Lord that he gives to those whom he loves (see Hebrews 12:6). We know that Jesus himself emphasized perseverance, especially in prayer (for instance, Luke 18:1-8). The longer the period between what we request and seeing our prayers answered the longer we have to exercise our faith, patiently and confidently trusting in the Lord to accomplish his will. Is this easier said than done? Absolutely. Yet it should not remain so. With each victory he accomplishes in our lives our trust is meant to grow, and will grow if we spend time in thankful meditation on the deeds he has done.
They were filled with great awe and said to one another,
“Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?”
The disciples began to grow from an understanding of Jesus that was still of one who was merely human to one who seemed in some mysterious way to be divine. We who confess Jesus as Lord still need to internalize this understanding that we profess with our minds until the peace that is a logical consequence of the truth of it can finally control our hearts.
He made the storm be still,
and the waves of the sea were hushed.
Then they were glad that the waters were quiet,
and he brought them to their desired haven. (see Psalm 107:29-30).
Trusting in the Lord could have saved David when he felt the flames of temptation rising in his heart. But it was at least as important that he managed to trust after having fallen. He saw the anger of the Lord's indignation threatening to sweep him away like a storm. The Lord might have seemed especially likely to keep sleeping in that instance, indifferent to David after David's failure. But David did give himself entirely to despair. He knew that the Lord was known to save those who were perishing, even through their own fault, that he was in fact renown for his mercy. So amidst the storm of condemnation David sought mercy.
Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.”
Nathan answered David: “The LORD on his part has forgiven your sin:
you shall not die.
The mercy he received made him well disposed to the endure the chastisement that still inevitably had to follow. It did not take all the consequences and their pain away, but enabled him to live through them without being consumed by them. He had received the Lord's mercy and understood that it was by that mercy that he lived on. He eventually arrived at a haven of peace and trust that was greater than before he sinned.
Give me back the joy of your salvation,
and a willing spirit sustain in me.
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