Mensa Otabil - Where Is Your Faith?
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Well, this week, as you notice, we’ve been talking about faith. So we go to Luke chapter 8, verses 24 and 25: «And they came to him, 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? '»
The disciples of Jesus were caught in a storm, and in the process, Jesus was asleep in the same boat they found themselves in. He was demonstrating how faith works to them, but the disciples were not bothered about operating in faith; they were in crisis mode. They were trying to bail out the boat, panicking and getting water out, and things were getting bad. Eventually, they woke up Jesus, and he rebuked the storm and then asked them a very important question: «Where is your faith?»
«Where is your faith?» It’s an important question, and I believe it’s one we must also ask ourselves: Where is my faith when I’m going through a crisis? Where is my faith when life hits me very hard? Where is my faith? Why did Jesus ask this question? Because faith can be abundant; it’s possible to have faith and not use it. It’s possible to have faith and abandon it, and it happens very frequently. When the storms of life overwhelm us and we’re going through a crisis, we enter panic mode, and suddenly we forget everything we know about God, about his faithfulness, about the Word of God, about our faith, about what we’ve heard. The crisis drives everything, and that’s what’s happening to the disciples.
They are men of faith; they’ve been with Jesus, they’ve seen how he deals with issues. But when they find themselves in a crisis, they abandon their faith. I hope you don’t do that. I hope that when you get into a crisis, you don’t forget that there is a Bible you read, that there is a God who answers prayer, and that there is praying that you do. We have to use our faith in moments of crisis. So don’t abandon your faith.
But Jesus was also demonstrating something: his faith was in the Father. Faith rests in God. How did Jesus demonstrate that? By being calm in the storm. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be concerned or that you should be aloof. No, but you have to rest in the Lord. You have to trust in him, and you have to have peace in him. Jesus had so much peace in the Father that he was asleep. He is telling us how we should also behave when we’re going through a crisis moment.
Don’t get all worked up, running helter-skelter, sometimes complicating your own problems, screaming, shouting, telling everybody about your problem, trying to get help from everyone, and facing insults in the process. Learn to trust in God. Rest in the Lord. Be calm. Take it easy. God is in control. Trust him. And I don’t mean just to fold your arms and do nothing; but trust God. There is a way in which our trust in God translates into the way we behave. When we trust in God, we are at rest and we are at peace, and that’s what Jesus was telling us.
The third thing we learned from this encounter is that faith works at all times. Why do I say that? While Jesus was asleep, his faith was awake. God doesn’t just abandon us when we’re asleep; our faith doesn’t elude us when we are asleep. Our faith works whether we’re asleep or awake, whether we’re in a storm or in a calm environment, whether it’s night or day. Faith works at all times. There are some people who believe that there are certain times of the night they have to wake up and pray. It’s okay to wake up and pray, but if you’re doing it because you believe you must keep watch over yourself, then you don’t trust God. If you trust God, you rest in him, and you remain calm in him.
Let’s pray. Say with me: «Heavenly Father, my faith is fully rested in you. I command every storm to be stilled in Jesus' name. Amen and amen.»