Where Is Your Faith?
Luke 8:22-25
22 "Now it happened, on a certain day,
that He got into a boat with His disciples. And He said to them, "Let us cross
over to the other side of the lake." And they launched out. 23 But as they
sailed He fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were
filling with water, and were in jeopardy. 24 And they came to Him and awoke Him,
saying, "Master, Master, we are perishing!" Then He arose and rebuked the wind
and the raging of the water. And they ceased, and there was a calm. 25 But He
said to them, "Where is your faith?" And they were afraid, and marveled, saying
to one another, "Who can this be? For He commands even the winds and water, and
they obey Him!" (NKJV)
Jesus being a man needed sleep, rest, and various things as we do. Traveling
from one side of the lake to the other, He "fell asleep."
As these disciple "launched" and traveling across the lake, there came upon them
a windstorm. Things began to happen, as in storks in our day, out of the
ordinary. These disciple began to lose their control, sensing the danger they
became fearful. Their lives were in jeopardy. They were in fear of perishing, as
the natural man would manifest itself in any of us in similar circumstance!
In this excited state they came to Jesus and awoke Him and presented their
concept of reality, "Master, Master we perish, or we are perishing.
Jesus's reaction is amazing: First He rebuked the wind, demonstrating His
miraculous powers. This is just one of the many demonstrating of His power to
validate His claim and right to demand of man in his relationship to the
Creator, His Father, the Governor of the universe. Anyone who will look at the
various miracles He performed cannot deny His claims. He demonstrated His power
over nature here in this case, and in other cases He demonstrated power over
sickness of various kinds.
Secondly, he challenged the disciple: Where is you faith? This was to them a
critical challenge, and one that has validity in our lives: Where is OUR FAITH?
Absence of faith that we can survive the storms
of life?
Object of our faith --in Self to do what God requires of
us, to understand, obey, and thus serve Him faithfully?
There is a danger of thinking too highly of self (Rom. 12:3) to have confidence
in self to the point that such is destructive (Phil. 3:4-ff). Yet, there is a
NEED to have a certain amount of faith in self, that one can do what God wants
done, will be pleased with!
Faith in others, to keep the ship afloat, to reach the
other side safely. Surely, we are warned against thinking of others more
high (beyond) what is appropriate ( 1. Cor. 4:6). Yet, there is a need to have
faith (confidence) in others to the point that we'll not be sour on the world,
distrusting everyone. Paul had faith in the brethren to do what was right, and
he expressed it a number of time (Gal. 5:10; 2 Cor. 8:22; Rom. 15:14).
Faith in God to keep His promises, etc. This, of
course is the most important of all. Without it we cannot possibly please Him
(Heb. 11:6). We must believe two things: 1) That He is; 2), that He is the
rewarder of them who diligently seek Him. One must have faith that He'll do what
He promises, to save those who render their lives to Christ. One must have faith
that He'll see us through the storms (difficulties) of life, when we place our
trust in Him. All will come out ok, when we love Him, having committed our life
to Him, been justified, sanctified and are known (approved) by Him (Rom.
8:28-30).
Yes, it seems appropriate to ask: "Where is your faith?" Where is my faith? Is
it in the wrong object? Is it so weak/strong we'll not be moved? Is it strong
enough to STAND the winds of false doctrine? The appeals of the world? The storm
of infidelity, immorality, and indifference? Faith is the
substance/assurance/ground of things hoped for (Heb. 11:1), those things not
seen with the physical eye, but are REAL in the mind's eye!
By William C. Sexton
From Expository Files 7.1; January 2000
