"Why are you afraid?"

Not being able to sleep thinking about all I had to do the next day, I picked up my Bible to read in the gospels. Reading Matthew eight, I ran across a verse that I have often read and wondered about. Jesus and his disciples were crossing the Sea of Galilee in a boat. Jesus was sleeping. The storm rose, and the disciples were afraid for their lives. When they woke Jesus, his response was, "Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?" The text goes on to say, that he, "Rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, 'What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?'"

Again, I wondered why Jesus seemed to be rebuking the disciples for being afraid of the storm, before he calmed it. I guess it always seemed unreasonable to expect them to know what he was going to do, before he did it. But that night, as I meditated on the text, something occurred to me. Maybe, Jesus wasn't rebuking them for not knowing what he was going to do, but for not trusting in who He was. After all, they had been seeing him work all kinds of miracles. Maybe, he was rebuking their fear, because fear is the opposite of trust. If I know that a good God controls everything that touches me, then there is never cause for fear, even when the waves are crashing over the sides of the boat.

In the dark of that night, those thoughts rebuked me somewhat like Jesus' rebuke of the disciples. "Why are you afraid? Don't you know me? Don't you trust that I know what tomorrow holds, and that My strength will be enough?"

When the dark passed and the day came with all of it's work, His Spirit continued to remind me of His watch care and power. He did give strength for the day sufficient for the work of the day. And when the night came, he gave rest. Lord, please, help me to rest in Your love and power. To not borrow trouble from tomorrow, but to rest in you today.