Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?

Matthew 8:23-27 (NKJV)

Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. 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 fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.  So the men marveled, saying, “Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”

I admit that I have a great fear of deep water.  Don’t know why, but I do.  So if I were one of the disciples in that boat in the middle of a stormy sea, I probably would have died from fright.  I certainly would have been the first to awake to Lord and protest how in the world He could be sleeping in the middle of a storm in the middle of the sea.  And, indeed, He would look at me and I can feel the shame and guilt when he would say to me, “why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” 

How can you have so much faith that you are no longer afraid of whatever scares you the most?

Oswald Chambers wrote (August 12) that “the Lord has a right to expect that those who name His name have an underlying confidence in Him”.  I think hard about that with the phobia I have about deep water.  Would I be unafraid of deep water in the middle of a stormy sea because of my confidence in Jesus?  I’m asking myself an honest question as I think about how deep is my faith really?  It’s the kind of question you ask yourself if you were in a situation where you had to make a choice between denying Christ as your Savior and Lord or be executed.

Chambers raises a good point that our trust in the Lord only goes to a certain point, then we revert to panic-stricken prayers that even an unbeliever might pray in a crisis situation.   We are like these disciples who couldn’t rely on deep-seated faith when they became afraid.  Yet, if this is so, Jesus will express His disappointment, even frustration, with those who do not trust Him when they face something fearful in life.

How do you get to the point where no fear in life is greater than your faith in Christ to take care of you in that fear?  The only way is to grow into the kind of relationship with Christ where He and you are One (John 17:21).  And how do you do that?  It’s possible but not easy.  It requires self-denial (Luke 9:23-24) and sincere love for the Lord (John 14:21,23).  These steps require obedience to the Word of God.  Obedience to the Word of God occurs when you saturate your mind with His Word and allow the Holy Spirit in you to fill your heart and mind daily so that the Spirit guides and leads you, not your own human, selfish will. 

You need to take a sober assessment of your life right now and ask yourself this question----“Were the Lord to appear to you right now, would He say to you “Well done, good and faithful servant” or would He say, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?”  This is a question you should ask yourself at the end of each day.  Don’t be discouraged if you know that your faith is not where it should be.  Remember the father of a convulsing child who admitted to Jesus, “I do believe, help me in my unbelief” (Mark 9:24).  A growing and deepening faith takes time, but you can resolve to keep growing in your faith each day.  And remember that when trials and troubles enter your life, that’s when your faith has opportunity to deepen and grow the most.