September 23rd, 2024

22 One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and set out. 23 As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger. 24 The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!” He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. 25 “Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples. In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.”

In the scripture above, we see a sort of disapproval towards his disciples from Jesus as nature disrupts their boat, in living in a world lost to the consequence of sin, they naturally worry, and fail to realize their eternal safety being with Christ. This is the true faith we must have as christians, with what we know about Jesus and his merciful sacrifice for us, we must not ever worry. It is likely Jesus knew the storm was coming and knew the effect it would have on them. We know that God allows nothing without reason in our world, so as christians we must also see that it is just and righteous for God to allow any suffering to occur in this world, because as long as we are defying the law that God put on His rightful holy earth, we deserve any misfortune that may come our way.

People often justify their dislike and disobediance to God because of the troubles they might have gone through in their life, but the truth is simple, in this world where our lives are fully corrupted by our decision to sin, our toils and trials will persist. It is not God's responsibility to stop that within the confines of this world. Any good He puts into this world is entirely out of his own grace and perfect morality.

For those within the faith, God giving them such a wonderful gift, we could also say that any troubles we go though, though are filled with Christ-filled faith, are possibly permitted by Him as a way of testing our faith to further strengthen it and bring more perserverance to us. If God has given you the true faith, no amount of worldly ungodliness can completely overcome that. The faith teaches us to endure this world, and continue to vouch for Christ. If we are waiting for our suffering to just end on this earth and that is what is keeping us from our happiness, then our happiness with never come. Christ gives us humility, happiness. In our faith we make sacrifices, we may come across challenges, its not whether those are happening to you or not but whether you are handling your trials in a godly or ungodly way.
The apostles were so quick to act in their natural human inclination, an atheistic response of fearing death and worrying about such little things. When Christ has worked in you and you are one with Him, we must not ever have to worry. If we do so, it again shows how much we do not deserve Jesus. It is when we are put into a mindset of panic or quick decision-making that the true motivation of our heart comes out, and since we are sinful to the core, we usually act in a way that resembles the way the apostles did on that boat. The problem is that we do not put our entire trust in Jesus all the time, and we often underestimate His power and divine influence in this world. When we are put in such a situation, we must not strive for our will, but His will, for that is the correct and just way things should be done and we have to right to question God's ways. Every little tiny thing that happens has meaning behind, whether we understand it or not, God works miracles big and small, He teaches us things in the faith, an example of that being, as mentioned earlier, challenging our faith in a sinful earth.

We see Jesus' amazing fearlessness come out here, showing perfect attitude and wisdom that only a sinless God-man could do. His fearlessness shows His trust, His love and it reminds us as christians that whatever God wants to happen, will happen and there is no amount of worldly corruption that will stop that. Jesus, in defeating sin, has overcome suffering, and when we look to Him always, we must see that it is wise to no longer fear the suffering of a sinful world, but the being that defeated suffering itself, Christ Jesus. By fearing and believing Jesus with all your heart, you no longer have to fear suffering, there will be no obstacles.

He is the only thing that makes this world make sense, He brings us comfort and assurance, I am glad and gracious to be a slave to Christ.
Dear God, thank you again for such wonderful experiences in life, good and bad, I have faith that all these things are righteous and display both your willingness to show love and grace as well as justice in this world. We do not deserve such divine knowledge and revelation found in the Gospel. I am sorry for the times where my inital trust may not always be in you, and when I fall short of your glorious character (all the time). There's nothing any of us can ever do to completely make up for how much love and compassion you have shown us. You are the essence of life, amen...