Finding More Faith In The Face Of Life’s Storms

ISN'T THAT A LITTLE HARSH? Why does Jesus rebuke the disciples for what seems a pretty reasonable request?

- Matthew 8:25.

- Why are the disciples chastised for what seems a pretty reasonable response? Wasn’t fear a reasonable response?

- Most of us would look at that situation and say, “Yeah, that’s just about what I would do in that situation!” So we wonder why Jesus is pretty harsh with them in response.

THE PROBLEM: The issue was not that they asked Jesus, but that they accused Jesus.

- Matthew 8:25.

- I don’t think that Jesus expected them to be unconcerned.

- They were fishermen. They had been on the water enough to know when they were in real danger. They knew the nature of this storm made it a dangerous one.

- But notice in v. 25 how they come to Jesus: “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”

- They come with an accusation. Their words drip with it: “Why aren’t You doing anything? How can You sleep at a time like this? Aren’t You going to save us?”

- Now, note that the earlier parts of chapter 8 make it clear that they had just experienced great miracles. They should have had some residual trust lingering from all they’d witnessed. But they didn’t.

- It’s amazing how quickly we can go from praising God for His provision and blessings over to griping and whining that God isn’t doing what we want how we want.

- We have such short memories. We hold onto that trust so briefly.

- There is a difference between asking and accusing.

- There is a difference between praying and pointing (fingers).

- There is a difference between using the language of trust and treachery.

- There is a difference between speaking from faith and from fear.

- The tone and words of the disciples make it clear that they believe that Jesus isn’t doing His job. They are upset with Him.

- Certainly, it’s a situation that is serious, but just because it’s serious doesn’t mean that we need to lose our trust.

- How do we do this today?

a. We praise God for a financial blessing, then wail about a questionable test result that leaves uncertain about the future.

b. We praise God in church for a great service, then act like He’s failing us because we’re continuing to have problems with our teenager.

c. We praise God for our spouse, then fuss the next day when they aggravate us.

- The problem is not that we acknowledge that we have a problem. The problem is not that we talk to God.

- The problem is that we talk to Him as though He has not kept up His promises.

- Our words and tone accuse God of having left us hanging. Our words and tone accuse God of not coming through for us. Our words and tone accuse God of hanging us out to dry.

- God always fulfills His promises.

- We can go to Him with questions. We can go to Him with our needs. But not with a finger pointing.

- Here is the base issue here: the disciples’ words betray their lack of trust in Jesus.

- And the base issue for us is often the same: when we get in the storm, we don’t trust Him to do His job.

- Why do some of us spend so much time worrying? Because we don’t trust God to do His job.

- Why are some of us so resentful? Because we don’t believe God is fulfilling His end of the deal.

- Why are some of us so lacking in joy? Because we feel like everything is up to us.

- We know from other passages that God wants us to bring our honest questions to Him.

- He knows what we’re thinking anyway, and He wants us to bring our concerns to Him.

- Compare if they’d gone to Him and said, “Jesus, we need Your power to take care of this.”

- They’re still acknowledging a need there, but in a way that expects that Jesus is able to take care of it.

- There is a difference between waking Him and waking Him scared.

GAINING MORE FAITH TO FACE STORMS CONFIDENTLY:

1. Accept the fact that there will be storms.

- Matthew 8:23.

- Some of us expect that having God in our lives should mean that we don’t have problems.

- Many of us believe that our lives should be storm-free and we get hacked off when it’s not.

- Of course, that’s not a promise that God made to us. In fact, the Bible promises the opposite, but we ignore those passages.

- They are literally following Jesus and He leads them right into a storm.