November 6 Master

Luke 8:22-25 One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let's go over to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and set out. 23 As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger. 24 The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we're going to drown!” He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. 25 “Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples. In fear and amazement, they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.”
 
JESUS asked his disciples, “Where is your faith?” I’m not sure I would want him to ask me. It would embarrass me to say to my Master, “My faith was good yesterday when things were good. But I’m not so sure today, Jesus. I’m wondering if you really are the Master over the earth. Is your authority enough to help me through this difficult day? When I look at my friends and family who are drowning in hard times, I’m wondering, ‘Are you the Mater, who can help them’?”
   The disciples in a small boat on the raging sea seemed to be experiencing that type of response to Jesus. Fearfully, they watched the storm rage. Doom seemed sure even as the Master of the Universe slept on the boat. Would Jesus sleep through their deaths? Did trouble rage while the Lord was literally unconscious to the threatening wind and waves?
   Are you prone to wonder, “Is the Lord aware of my troubles?” Fear can roar into our souls at a moment’s notice. Our faith blows away when sudden troubles rise high. Forgetting God’s power, we focus first on our limiting weakness. When solutions are invisible, we desperately call out to God, “I’m drowning here, Master! Can’t you do something?” Yes, we speak the word, “Master” while fear masters our lives.
   What would have been the disciples’ faithful response? Perhaps they should have faithfully petitioned Jesus, “Master, Master, we know you are Lord of all. Would you still the storm? Will you keep us safe through this night? Thank you, Master, for calming this storm.”
   This is a prayer of faith. This is the kind of response Jesus seemed to desire from his disciples. Day by day, Jesus gave his disciples more reasons to trust his authority over their lives. Jesus was preparing them for the years to come when they would need that faith to do what he commanded them to do. On the day he ascended to Heaven, the Master would say to them in Matthew 28:18 “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” They would often need to fully believe in their Master’s authority through the worst storms of their lives. Ahead of them were the trials of persecution, torture and death as they spoke the Master’s saving authority to the world.
   I wonder how many times they looked back to that night on the boat and remembered, “He saved us then. He will save us now. He is he Master of my life.”
   In the storms, look to the Master. Remember when he rescued you from other raging waves. Be at peace.
 
Prayer: Thank you, Lord God, for your power to rescue me from sin’s raging, deadly storms. In faith, I thank you that you are with me through all the storms. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.