Several of them had been out on this water since they were boys. As men they had earned their livelihood navigating these waters, through calm & storm. Sure, Matt was not great with boats as he’s always had an office job, but that was ok.
This time was bad. This was a tough situation. There were a bunch of them all in this fishing boat and the storm was intense. Even with their experience, they were losing control of the situation and they realized they were facing a life or death moment.

And Jesus was asleep.

He’d been really busy lately and had just come off a major time of teaching. Physically exhausted, he was actually sleeping through the calamity. He was their leader, and although their full understanding of what it meant would take more time, they knew He was of God. So they woke him up, rather upset. “Don’t you care what is happening to us!?!?”

Fear does that to us. Jesus seemed to not care. The reality actually was that he just wasn’t afraid. He could sleep because he was at peace. He knew perfect security in the hands of God. They should have known that too, but they were overwhelmed with the knowledge of their circumstances rather than their knowledge of Him.

So he calmed the storm.

He didn’t calm it because the storm was their problem. He calmed it to show that HE was the answer to their security; that he had greater power than the storm that they thought was a threat.

Peter had his own lesson on this as his very accurate awareness of a dangerous situation out on the water overwhelmed his awareness of his Savior. He sunk into the water after a few steps. Jesus pulls him out reminding him to trust him, not the situation.

I have asthma and am not as young as I used to be. I fear dying less than I fear leaving my family without a father, but the fear is real.

And Jesus is asleep.

I have to remember this so I can sleep too. Jesus is not asleep as in displaying a callous disregard for my situation. Far from it. He is actually far greater than my situation and I have no more to fear from it than from any other threat. No one can touch me because I am His for all eternity.
I am seeing waves, and hearing the howling of the wind and it tries to demand my attention, insisting that I dwell fully on what is truly a scary and dangerous situation. Jesus reminds me that he is at peace, and he has offered that peace to me. He never said the storm wouldn’t come or that it wouldn’t be scary. He just reminds me that even the wind and waves obey him and I need to be more aware of HIM than I am of the storm.

“Fear not,” is a phrase God loves. Jesus said it a lot. These days I am discovering again and again how much I need to focus on Him in order to obey that simple request.

I’m praying for you. Pray for me. I pray we can all know the peace that goes beyond the understanding of this world.

Blessings to you.