Jesus Is In Your Boat
“And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, ‘Lord, save us! We are perishing!’ But He said to them ‘Why are you so fearful, O you of little faith?’ Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.”
(Matthew 8:24-26)
This scripture makes one wonder “how does someone sleep in a boat with a storm going on all around them?” On a plane, every ounce of turbulence makes me cringe. If I had to be on a boat during a storm, I probably would be sweating bullets. When we were stationed in Texas, Georgia and Kansas, I would pace the rooms in our house during the night when we would be having some wild storms. Although I was safe inside my house, I knew the types of storms they had in those States and I was always on alert. Back then, although I loved the Lord, I now realize my faith in Him was small. I allowed fear and worry to overcome me and therefore my stress level could be pretty big. Little did I realize that Jesus was in my boat all along. If I had been closer to Him back then, I would have done what Christ had done during the storm…sleep peacefully.
It’s comforting to know we are in good company with the disciples. They physically had Jesus in the boat with them and they thought they were perishing! They had seen His miracles, heard His teachings and learned greatly from Him, but they still were fearful of the storm that was upon them. Isn’t that how we are sometimes? We hear Christ’s teachings through sermons, read about them in the Bible, have seen miraculous things in our lives, whether big or small, yet we allow the storms that come against us to intimidate us and cause us fear. We allow every hurtful, negative word said to us by others to either tear us up or cause us to react in emotion, which is never good.
When Christ is in the boat with you, you don’t have to worry. Yes, you will feel the effects of the storm from time to time but when we trust in Christ, He gets us through the storms safely. The disciples felt the tossing of the boat, they felt the crashing of the water on their faces and bodies, but their boat did not capsize or sink. Some of them were seasoned fishermen whose job was to spend time out at sea fishing. But even though they knew what their job was, and no doubt did what they could to keep the boat afloat, there came a time when fear crept in and began to overwhelm them, causing them to cry out to Jesus. All they had to do was move close to Him and they would be safe. But, as we are human, we do become fearful and those are the times we cry out for Christ and He calm’s our storm.
We must never forget that Christ is in the boat with us at all times. When storms begin to hit us, all we have to do is move closer to Him and we will be safe. Many times situations on the surface will look so bad that it looks like our boat will capsize, but when we move closer to Christ, He will keep our boats steady through the storm. We just have to put all of our hope and faith in Him.
Lord, help me to remember that You are in the boat with me. Although I may feel the effects of the storm around me, help me to never lose hope in You. Please help keep my eyes focused on You at all times so I will not sink in the waters of emotion. Be my shield and strength at this time and always. In Jesus name…Amen.