{"id":87,"date":"2021-02-09T13:29:56","date_gmt":"2021-02-09T18:29:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wickstromwonderings\/?p=87"},"modified":"2021-02-09T13:29:56","modified_gmt":"2021-02-09T18:29:56","slug":"faith-in-the-storm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wickstromwonderings\/2021\/02\/09\/faith-in-the-storm\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas 2020: Sleeping through the Storm"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Biblical Insight<\/strong><\/h1>\n<\/header>\n
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In Matthew 8:26, we read, \u201cAnd he said to them,\u00a0\u2018Why are you\u00a0afraid,\u00a0O you of little faith?<\/em>\u2019\u00a0Then he rose and\u00a0rebuked the winds and the sea, and\u00a0there was a great calm.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

To understand this passage, we must first remember that Jesus got into a boat, fell asleep, a storm hit, the disciples (literally \u201cthe men\u201d) panicked, and they woke Jesus.\u00a0 Those are helpful clues and I have heard many good sermons based on this passage that add much more.\u00a0 However, I have always felt that something was missing \u2013 and that left me uneasy.<\/p>\n

After Jesus\u2019 great miracle, the men wondered \u2013 and I still wonder \u2013 at one who controls the wind and the waves.\u00a0 Consequently our attention is averted from Jesus\u2019 question: \u201cWhy are you afraid, O you of little faith?\u201d\u00a0 It is that question that is the center of this passage, for Jesus is the center of this story.\u00a0 Yet, I, like the men in the boat, am easily distracted from Jesus\u2019 question by the miraculous nature of Jesus\u2019 action.\u00a0 It was only when I recognized that I was averting my attention from its center that I began to understand this story more deeply and to identify the source of my uneasiness.<\/p>\n

What seems clear to me now is that Jesus\u2019 question suggested that all would have been fine whether or not he had awoken and whether or not he had calmed the storm.\u00a0 Jesus was totally comfortable in his own skin and totally comfortable in his role as the Son of his Father.\u00a0 That made him totally comfortable, as well, with the storm, and totally comfortable with the possibility of sinking.<\/p>\n

His attitude was rooted in belief and absolute trust in The Father and complete submission to His Will.\u00a0 Moreover, Jesus\u00a0acted<\/em>\u00a0on his belief in God by falling asleep at the bottom of the boat.\u00a0 That is the definition of\u00a0faith<\/em>: belief put into action, trust becoming trustworthiness, and submission revealed as freedom.\u00a0 It is Jesus\u2019 sleep in the bottom of the boat that I need to emulate, rather than his calming of the storm.<\/p>\n

Personal Example<\/strong><\/p>\n

I sometimes relate a story from my youth where my faith in God became evident.\u00a0 A knife wielding thief was surprised by and threatened a missionary before running off into the woods.\u00a0 Nearby guards decided to organize a search for the thief and we boarding school high schoolers were called to help.\u00a0 On the way to the rendez-vous point I realized that I had no weapon in case of an encounter and ran back to my room to grab a bat.\u00a0 Then, realizing that the thief would have headed\u00a0away<\/em>\u00a0from population, I ran the opposite direction from the others and jogged along a path that circled around the area where the thief had fled.\u00a0 As I jogged along alone in the dark, it occurred to me that, if I were to encounter this frightened thief, my immature body would be no match for a larger opponent yielding a knife.\u00a0 Many people would have felt fear at that point, but I felt only confidence \u2013 not in my ability to overcome, but in being right where my Heavenly Father wanted me.<\/p>\n

This story is full of silliness, of course.\u00a0 Why try to search out a frightened thief in a wood bordering on open grassland when the chances of success were almost zero?\u00a0 What was the sense of calling in a bunch of unarmed high schoolers to help with the search?\u00a0 What was I thinking when I took off on my own, far away from any others who could be called in to help?\u00a0 Like Jesus\u2019 calming of the storm, the silliness of my story can easily distract us from the central message.\u00a0 What actually happened to me that night is that I explicitly experienced complete reliance on and submission to God.\u00a0 In other words, I experienced the type of faith that Jesus modeled by sleeping through the storm in the bottom of the boat.<\/p>\n

Finding Rest in 2020<\/strong><\/p>\n

This type of absolute faith has been essential to our survival in the COVID era.\u00a0 Those who trust God fully have been able to sleep through this storm as well.\u00a0 Those who have relied, instead, on their own strength and insight have occasionally thrived but often find themselves, like the men in the boat, fearful and upset by our apparent lack of control.<\/p>\n

In contrast to much of 2020, Christmas has been a traditional time of trust and trustworthiness, of submission and freedom, of faith put into action.\u00a0 There are some not so fortunate, but those who truly believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings, Emmanuel, will recognize his trustworthiness, will submit to the consequences of that belief, and will respond in faith by relaxing confidently in the Father\u2019s arms.<\/p>\n

At Christmas, we are called to bear witness to God become flesh.\u00a0 If God is so for us, who can be against us?<\/p>\n

Go, then, and sleep without fear, confident and comfortable in God\u2019s plan for each one of us.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Report This Post<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Biblical Insight In Matthew 8:26, we read, \u201cAnd he said to them,\u00a0\u2018Why are you\u00a0afraid,\u00a0O you of little faith?\u2019\u00a0Then he rose and\u00a0rebuked the winds and the sea, and\u00a0there was a great calm.\u201d To understand this passage, we must first remember that Jesus got into a boat, fell asleep, a storm hit, the disciples (literally \u201cthe men\u201d) Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":185,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-87","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nChristmas 2020: Sleeping through the Storm - Wickstrom Wonderings<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In the story of Jesus sleeping in the bottom of the boat, the calming of the storm is not the primary lesson. 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