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BRAVER THAN LIONS
Sam Stringer
Aug 13, 2024
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?"
Matthew 8:23-27
Years ago, I went my with parents and brother to visit my aunt out near Omaha, Nebraska. We went to
the Omaha Zoo on one particular day and walked around, looking at the different animals and were really
enjoying ourselves. It’s a big zoo with a lot of exhibits; some of the parts of this zoo get quite a ways out
from the main entrance. There was construction going on and some areas were blocked off, but you didn’t
always know it until you made your way down the paths to then find that out. A thunderstorm came out of
the blue while we were in that very vicinity. Lightning was flashing all around, the thunder was crashing
nearly as fast as the lightning came, and torrential rain started pouring. My family started running off in
one direction and I, in my wisdom, thought I’d take another path to beat them to a shelter. The path that I
took was under construction and I did not realize this until I came to some orange cones in the middle of a
rainstorm. I believe I was an older teen at the time and was in full-on panic mode, the giant drops of rain
mixing with my man-tears. I screamed for them and ran and finally found them in cover. What a day. What
a memory.
Though this passage is a literal happening in the New Testament, I wonder if we could for moment
imagine that this is a figurative lesson for all of us who are believers in Christ. We, like the disciples, can
live in boats of insecurity; if the water is calm and the sun is shining in our circumstances, we’re fine. If the
lightning comes and the waves start picking up, the sight of land goes away and we have no idea what to
do, we’re in a panic. Our circumstances can be like waves, crashing down upon us: I need money, I need
a job, I need my car to work, I need to have this person accept me, I need people to leave me alone…I
need, I need, I need. When those things we feel we need get tested by situations or periods of life that
slam against them and wash them out to sea, we cower and beg God to fix it. Fix the finances! Fix the
car! Fix the job situation! Fix this relationship! Fix this rejection I’m facing! So many examples of things
that we have learned to need in order to be okay. I am so guilty of this myself, and it’s something I must
repent of, as we all must do.
Jesus was in the boat. All that the disciples required was right there with them. He controlled the storm,
He controlled the journey, He controlled everything. Oh, if He’d only known that there was a storm
coming, certainly He would have not had them set sail! I think that He knew the disciples needed to be in
that boat, in that storm, with Him. What was He doing? Sleeping. You and I go through problems
ourselves and we pray and we plead and you know how we feel oftentimes? Like God’s sleeping. We
might tell ourselves that He’s sleeping because He doesn’t care about us, or He’s sleeping and doesn’t
realize how close we are to going under. He’s right there but He might as well be a million trillion miles
away because everything is in chaos and He’s not fixing it. We’re so willing to let Him become marginal
but make lesser, passing things so central to our wellbeing.
The disciples learned a lesson that night when Jesus awoke. You’re fearing the wrong things. You’re
placing your confidence in the wrong places. You’re so consumed with a seemingly stable life that you’ve
lost sight of the Lord in your boat. He’s already done so much to prove His power and provision and yet
you trust so little despite that. Does this ring a bell with you? We lose our bravery when we let Christ be
little and our waves become huge. Who made the waves? Who holds us in the palm of His hands? Who
has the plan? Who can take the storms of your own life and rebuke them in an instant, all that calamity
evaporating in an instant? Jesus. The better question is, “Why do I need to be in this boat? Why do I need
these storms? What are these storms teaching me about myself and where I’m really setting my hopes
and confidence? Why am I such a wreck? Does God ever really ‘sleep’ to my needs?”
We find at times that we need to be in little boats, enduring great storms, for the sake of rescuing our faith
from the wrong places and putting in back in Jesus. We’re not brave because we require the wrong things
to manufacture our rickety version of courage. Like the cowardly lion of The Wizard of Oz, we’re all good
so long as nothing along our path stands to freak us out. We’re not at peace because we’re demanding
God give us certain conditions to be calm. Trust the Lord in the boat. Jesus Christ absolutely cares about
the people in His boat, and if you’re saved, you’re in that boat. Storms come and storms go, but Jesus is
out there with you. Be brave, be blessed as you contemplate these things.
Sam Stringer
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by
permission. All rights reserved.
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