To Encourage You

Matthew 8:26 “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?”

One of the commands Jesus gives His followers over and over again in Scripture is this one: “Fear not!” What wonderful words these are, if we will just believe and obey them. It’s one of the truest tests of our faith. 

In the verse above Jesus has just been awakened from a sound sleep in the bottom of a boat in a fierce storm on the Sea of Galilee. His disciples were with Him, but unlike Christ, they feared for their life. Interestingly, just prior to this incident, a scribe had stated “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” To this Jesus replied “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” In other words, “if you follow me, realize that it may be difficult.” As he left that encounter it says that “when He got into the boat, his disciples followed Him.” Where He went, they wanted to go. But then the difficulty. And difficulty is inevitable for the followers of Jesus. 

Jesus came to a world that hated Him. Everywhere He turned there were enemies, enemies who were motivated by the archenemy of Christ, Satan himself. Yet, Jesus doesn’t take us out of the world – He sends us right into it. He has told us to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20). Do you hear that? “Go to every nation,” but in doing this, remember that we are following Him – we’re not on our own. 

In Mark’s account of this same command it says “into all the world.” So where is that? It’s into our work place, to our family, to our friends, to our acquaintances, or to some, it’s to another country or people group. It’s to anyone who God has placed in our life in one way or another. And it’s in every situation where we might meet them. But as we go, we are to remember that He is with us. He is just as present as He was in the bottom of the boat with the disciples on the Sea of Galilee.  He is with us in that hospital bed or in any other overwhelming circumstance of life – any storm. And while we may know He is with us, sometimes it may seem like He’s sleeping on us, unaware of the storm that is raging all around us. But that’s where we’re all wrong. You see, although Jesus shared our humanity and by it experienced all that we do (e.g., he got tired and slept – like in that boat, in fact He was “in the same boat” as they were), He didn’t share the sin of the anxiety that is produced by it like we do. He didn’t sin by failing to trust His Father in heaven – like we so often do. He knew that even while He slept, His Father “Who keeps Israel, will neither slumber nor sleep” (Psalm 121:4). 

Like us, Jesus had the Scriptures. They said the same thing to Him in His humanity that they say to us in our humanity. But He believed them. He believed them because He, more intimately than anyone canl fully know, knew the Father that gave them to us. And He knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that He could be completely trusted. 

And so, to the extent we trust Him, we will not fear, but to the extent that we doubt Him, even a little bit, we will fear. It’s called the condition of having “little faith.” That’s what Jesus rebuked His disciples for, and it’s the same message to each and every one of us today in our storms. His Word to us is, “Don’t be afraid. Don’t have ‘little faith.’ Know with assurance that He’s watching you and is fully aware of your condition at this very moment. Remember that Psalm 121 says that your heavenly Father never slumbers nor sleeps. More than that, it goes on to say that “The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil; He will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.” 

Fear and faith – they are counter to one another. Much fear means little faith, and much faith means little fear. So, you who call God your heavenly Father and who are following Jesus wherever He leads, “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6),  for that is always the antidote for fear.