Maybe someone else needs to hear this too...

Read in Luke 8 today. A familiar story. Jesus and His disciples are in a boat when a HUGE storm comes up. The boat literally fills with water. His disciples--who are fishermen most of them and no doubt used to storms at sea--are terrified. Jesus is sleeping on a pillow in the back of the boat (though I'm suspicious that He was probably pretending). His disciples are trying to fight the storm out on their own and then finally, in desperation wake Him and say,

"Master, Master, we perish."

(Here I always pause and wonder what angst old King James had towards exclamation marks! This would have surely been an appropriate place to insert one. Or maybe two or three.)

Jesus wakes up, calms the storm, and rebukes them for being so faithless.

Here I pause my reading and think a little. Why did Jesus rebuke them? All they did was wake Him up and state an obvious fact-- "The boat is sinking. We're going to die." Was that worth being called "Oh ye of little faith?" It didn't seem like a bad thing they did. Jesus seemed to be a little hard on His poor frazzled disciples. After all they didn't have this story to read in their Bibles. They hadn't sung songs about Jesus calming the storm in Sunday school ever since they were little kids. They didn't know the script or the end of the story yet.

Frankly? I would have been terrified, too.

Before I charged Jesus with insensitivity, I decided to read the other accounts of this happening and see what details might have been left out of Luke's version.

Ah there it was in Mark's: When they woke Him up, they said to Him, "Master, don't you care that we're perishing?" Then He calmed the storm and said to them, "Why are ye so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?"

Ah. Those words: "Master, don't you care?"

I wonder if THAT was the faithlessness that Jesus was rebuking, even more than their fear of the storm. Because that was the ROOT of their fear of the storm. They wondered if He cared about their situation. They thought He was neglectful. They did not trust Him to care for them because He was letting them ride out a storm. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the root of all fear is faithlessness, and the root of all faithlessness is choosing to believe the lie that Jesus does not care about the specific situation I find myself in.

"Master, I'm lonely. Don't You care?"

"Master, the doctor just gave me the bad news. Don't You care?"

"Master, my loved one is breaking my heart. Don't You care?"

"Master, I keep on struggling with the same sin over and over. Don't You care?"

"Master, I'm still single. Don't You care?"

"Master, that person hurt me. Don't You care?"

"Master, I'm sick of goodbyes. Don't You care?"

"Master, my dreams aren't coming true. Don't You care?"

"Master, she's going to hell. Don't You care?"

"Master, I feel so far from You. Don't You care?"

"Master, I feel unfulfilled in my job/marriage/life... Don't You care?"

If you are riding out a storm, meditate on this truth today: Yes, HE CARES. He knows, and He cares. Do not sin by a faithless acceptance of the lie, "Your Master does not care."

Silence doesn't mean neglect.

Delay doesn't mean mean unconcern.

Loneliness doesn't mean abandonment.

Read Psalm 139 and choose to believe that He is in the boat with you, aware of the storm, and He cares. In choosing to believe that, choose to rejoice, oh ye of little faith!