Why?

The story has been told of a museum guide who would take his tour group to a darkened room, shined a light on a mass of string, color, and apparent chaos and ask the group. “What do you think this is?” “I don’t know,” was the reply of the group. The guide would then say. “Stand over there and watch.” As the group moved over to the other side of the room, he would turn on a spotlight. It was instantly apparent that the mass of jumbled colored string seen just a moment earlier was in fact an enormous tapestry – from the back side. The real work had to be seen from a different perspective to understand what the artist was creating. So, it is with God and His ways. We often look at them and ask questions such as “Why?” and “How?” Not because there is no purpose in what God is doing, but because we are on the wrong side of eternity to be able to have the perspective that would enable us to see the order and pattern to God’s work.

Now it happened, on a certain day, that He got into a boat with His disciples. And He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side of the lake.” And they launched out. But as they sailed He fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water, and were in jeopardy. And they came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water. And they ceased, and there was a calm. But He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and marveled, saying to one another, “Who can this be? For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him!” Then they sailed to the country of the Gadarenes, which is opposite Galilee.

Luke 8:22-26

[Title]

• Why is a person who plays the piano called a pianist but a person who drives a race car not called a racist?

• Why the man who invests your money is called a 'broker'?

• Why are the obituaries found in the "living" section of the newspaper?

• Why is it that sweet and sour sauce be sweet and sour at the same time?

• If Fed Ex and UPS were to merge, would they call it Fed UP?

• Why is it that when we "skate on thin ice", we can "get in hot water"?

• Why does caregiver and caretaker mean the same thing?

• Why do we put suits in a garment bag and put garments in a suitcase?

• Why builders are afraid to have a 13th floor, but book publishers aren't afraid to have a Chapter 11?

• Why do people constantly return to the refrigerator with hopes that something new to eat will have materialized?

• Why do they call it "rush hour" when the traffic is so slow?

In our day-to-day life we will always run into troubles, and when we do, we most times wonder: why is this happening to me? This was the case for the disciples who were crossing the lake with Jesus asleep in the rear of the boat. As the storm grew and the waves began to crash over the boat to the point where the boat was flooding, the disciples wake Jesus in the hopes that He would help them. Now in looking at the verses we read I am not sure what kind of help the disciples were looking for, because they sure were not expecting the kind of help they received. When Jesus quieted the storm by His word the disciples became even more afraid.

In looking at this story we need to understand some things:

• Jesus told them that they were going to the other side of the lake.

o Now correct me if I am wrong, but I have not read anything in the Bible where Jesus lied about something.

o So, when He said that they were going to the other side I take that as a truth that no matter what they were going to make it to the other side.

o The word of God says that God is not a man that He should lie, and since Jesus was God in the flesh, I believe what He says.

• Why the disciples were afraid of the storm when most of them were seasoned fisherman.

o They were afraid because this was a storm unlike any they had ever encountered.

o In Matthew 8:24 he writes that the storm was a great tempest.

• Even so, why were the disciples afraid; knowing that Jesus was on board?