Reading Mt 8,23-27 Jesus had just finished teaching on the Sower, building the house on the rock, the power of prayer, and healing the multitudes when He instructs his disciples to get in the boat and 'let's get to the other side'.
A massive storm came up and they all thought that they were going to die except for Jesus who was asleep 'on a pillow at the boat's STERN (which would be slapping up and down in big waves)'. They woke Him up in fear and he questioned them, "Why are you such timid ones, men of little faith?"
This bothered me because these men were experienced fisherman and this must have been some storm but Jesus called them "timid ones" (Wuest). I asked myself why would He say such a thing? What's the purpose here?
Last night it came, "faith is experience". These men were fisherman for years before they met Jesus. They had spent years and perhaps decades at sea, but that was also their problem. Instead of drawing from the experience of what they had seen and heard from Jesus they relied on what they knew.
Jesus was correcting them because He wanted them to know Him, trust Him, believe in Him, experience Him just like they knew the sea. God didn't bring the storm but he provided the Word to change it and Jesus expected them to know that.
Anyway, that challenged me to draw nearer to Him that I may know Him better than I know anything else in this life. Amen.
Reading Mt 8,23-27 Jesus had just finished teaching on the Sower, building the house on the rock, the power of prayer, and healing the multitudes when He instructs his disciples to get in the boat and 'let's get to the other side'.
A massive storm came up and they all thought that they were going to die except for Jesus who was asleep 'on a pillow at the boat's STERN (which would be slapping up and down in big waves)'. They woke Him up in fear and he questioned them, "Why are you such timid ones, men of little faith?"
This bothered me because these men were experienced fisherman and this must have been some storm but Jesus called them "timid ones" (Wuest). I asked myself why would He say such a thing? What's the purpose here?
Last night it came, "faith is experience". These men were fisherman for years before they met Jesus. They had spent years and perhaps decades at sea, but that was also their problem. Instead of drawing from the experience of what they had seen and heard from Jesus they relied on what they knew.
Jesus was correcting them because He wanted them to know Him, trust Him, believe in Him, experience Him just like they knew the sea. God didn't bring the storm but he provided the Word to change it and Jesus expected them to know that.
Anyway, that challenged me to draw nearer to Him that I may know Him better than I know anything else in this life. Amen.