“’Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?’” (Mark 4:40)
In the storm at sea we see a graphic image of Jesus’ power over the forces of nature. This storm that hit the small fishing vessel must have been an extremely intense gale for it caused great fear to fall on the disciples who were experienced sailors. It must have been as fierce as the hurricane force winds we endured during Super Storm Sandy. So we cannot really fault those fearful men because we know some of what they went through. And yet, they had seen Jesus recently perform some spectacular miracles and should have had at least an inkling of what He was capable of doing.
The Lord’s power over the natural forces in the world is certainly a great encouragement and an enormous relief to us. If Jesus can control the weather then we really should realize that He certainly has the power to help us. But we doubt, we often fail to have faith in Jesus when we are in the midst of life’s storms. We call out to the Lord to save us, yet we are afraid of the dangers and the pain. The Lord understands what we feel but He wants us to know that nothing will overtake us that He cannot enable us handle. And He will forgive our doubts and will always encourage us to carry on. He will never condemn our weakness the way our family, friends and the world may do, but help us always to persevere. He is right there in the middle of the storm with us.