Notes of Faith June 21, 2023
You know, you’re only afraid of the presence of God if you are not ready to face God. Jesus asked His disciples, “Where is your faith?” Truly, faith is tested not in the good days, not in the peaceful days; faith is tested in the bad and troublesome days. That’s when people around you will look at you and see if your faith really is solid. Jesus asked the disciples, “Where is your faith?”
He told them, “Everything is fine when I’m walking with you, and everything is great, but now it’s time to trust. Now is the time to believe, when the storm comes, and where is it? How come you failed now? How come it disappeared? How come I’m here with you yet you’re so afraid?” Where is your faith? So when the heat comes, or when drought comes, when the bad times come, then you’re going to flourish, then you’re going to yield fruits, then your leaves will be green, and everybody will see that you’re doing great – if you trust in the Lord. So to trust in the Lord is important, mostly in bad times. And Jesus was asking them, “Where is your faith?” When Jesus is on the boat with us, we can cross the lake. We can cross any lake in the chapters of our lives. In fact, we need to remember that the presence of Jesus is what Christianity is all about.
Amir Tsarfati: Where is Your Faith?
Luke 8:22-25
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!”
While the body of Christ is diverse in many ways, there is one thing we all share in common. No one likes the storms of life. The disciples on Lake Tiberius (Sea of Galilee) were in the boat with Jesus. They could see Him; they knew they were not alone. The One they watched heal the sick, cast out demons, and even raise the dead was asleep.
Mark’s gospel records a detail Luke’s did not:
Mark 4:38
But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”
If there was anything the 12 should have been sure of, it was that Jesus cared for them. He called them to follow Him. He taught them, corrected them, sent them out with the power over unclean spirits and disease. Yet, when a storm arose, they were afraid and wondered if He even cared.
This is what a lapse of faith looks like, and most, if not all, of us have had them. The storms of life come, but we don’t have a sleeping Jesus nearby to look at. We have read His teaching but not heard His audible voice. We have experienced the miracle of salvation, having been born again. He has given us exceedingly great and precious promises, and, yet, at times, we wonder where is He in what we’re going through? Does He not see? Does He care about our pain and suffering? Many times the question arises, “Why would He even allow this?”
The most important aspect of this story of the disciples’ faith failure is the opening statement by both Mark and Luke: And He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side of the lake.” Before they ever left the shore, they had been given a destination. If Jesus said, “Let’s go to the other side,” that is where they were going to wind up. It didn’t matter what happened in the middle. Satan could stir up a storm, run the boat into a rock, or draw in an enemy to try and sink the boat. Whatever happened in the middle may not have been fun and even a bit frightening, but none of it could change their destination. They were going to the other side!
The same is true for us. He has given us a destination:
John 14:3
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.
He also said that in between here and there will be some rough seas:
John 16:33
These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.
For those who may currently be in the midst of a storm, remember, no amount of tribulation can change our destination. He said we would someday be where He is, and we will. Nothing can alter our course. Nothing can separate us from His love, and no one can snatch us from His hand.
Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
It has been said: Without a test, you have no testimony. We all go through trials and the storms of life. Faith is remembering our promised, unalterable destination, even though it is yet unseen, and living like it is true, especially during a storm.
If you feel like you are in a storm on the Sea of Galilee right now, remember, the middle is not the end. You have a promised destination given by the One whom you do not now see, but will someday. No storm can alter that, and what lies on the other side of this life and its storms, trials, and tribulations, is a place of unimaginable peace and beauty where death, pain, and sorrow, and all their causes, are banished forever. Until then, we walk by faith and not by sight knowing that someday we’ll get to other side.
Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus,
Remembering that Jesus is always with us is hard. Sometimes the world closes in with all its problems and distractions and we forget that He is there. But He never leaves even when we don’t know He is there. Ask for strengthened faith to make it through to the other side of trials and tribulations. He is faithful and will guide us safely across to His promised destination for us.
Pastor Dale