Last Saturday, Matthew 8:23-27 was the scripture passage that accompanied The Upper Room devotional. I read the familiar account of Jesus and His disciples getting into a boat, Jesus falling asleep and a storm coming up without warning. I was especially drawn to the words of the disciples after they awakened Jesus and He rebuked the winds and the waves. “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey Him!”

Sunday morning our pastor preached on that same Scripture. I’ve learned to pay attention when I hear the same Scripture two or three times in a row. Pastor Nathan said, “The storm came without warning…” Isn’t that the way things happen in our lives? We’re just doing life─getting up, eating, working, going to bed, getting up, eating, working… And then, without warning, a storm comes. Today we received word that a friend of ours came home from work to find that her husband had taken his life while she was gone. Without warning, the storm came…

What happens to us when storms come without warning? In our Scripture, the disciples found themselves becoming fearful. Pastor Nathan said there are two kinds of fear. Fear that comes when we feel like things are out of control (waves swept over the boat) and fear of death (we’re going to drown). “As Americans, we have the idea that we can order what goes on around us. When we feel ‘out of control,’ we become angry.”

As I pondered the Scripture again last Sunday, I realized that although the disciples had watched Jesus perform many miracles─healing the sick, the demon-possessed, the lepers, the paralyzed─they had never seen Him come up against what was to them the most formidable foe of all, a storm at sea. As fishermen, they knew better than anyone that they were no match for the winds and the waves, no one could control the storm. Although they wakened Jesus and cried out to Him to save them, I don’t think they believed He had power over the storm. Listen again to their reaction when the winds and the waves became calm when Jesus rebuked them. “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey Him!” To their way of thinking, Jesus had now faced and overcome the most formidable foe of all.

So I want to ask you, what formidable foe are you facing today? Do you believe Jesus is a match for that foe or do you feel that there’s no hope? If you’re struggling with fear or anger, I’d like to leave you with some questions our pastor asked us on Sunday.

Are you afraid because you can’t control the circumstances?

How do you respond when things don’t turn out the way you planned?

Do you begin with fear and then become angry?

Our only hope is to relinquish control to the only One who is in control and put our trust in Him.

Father, I pray that when we face our most formidable foe, we will discover, as the disciples did, that Jesus is able to win even against our most formidable foe. Amen.

Flashback Friday: We in this Country are facing many formidable foes we knew nothing of when I posted this blog in November of 2017–from racial unrest, to a coronavirus pandemic and a contested election. I personally needed a reminder that God is big enough for the challenge!