One of the my favorite stories of Jesus is when He and His disciples were in a boat and while the disciples try to fight their way through a storm, Jesus is asleep on the cushions. After the disciples do all they can, the boat still begins to fill with water. They finally wake Jesus and He calms the storm with a word.
When I was younger, I always thought the cool part of the story was when Jesus calms the storm, because I used to be scared of drowning in the ocean, even though I’d never been on a boat in my life. But now I think the cool part is that Jesus was taking a nap while 12 men (probably angry) were fighting for their lives in the middle of a killer storm. And cooler still is that when they interrupted His nap, Jesus didn’t rebuke His disciples, who by the way had just seen Him do countless miracles (including heal Peter’s mother-in-law).
While the story is only covered in 5 verses in Matthew 8, there is tons to unpack about the character of Jesus. For example, notice how Jesus didn’t wake up until His disciples called Him. When you and the lad or ladies try to work things out on your own, Jesus won’t interfere because, like a father, He likes being asked.
When you’re doing your best to keep your head above water, Jesus isn’t going to force Himself into the situation. He’s in the same boat as you, but he’s a gentleman. He won’t take over unless you ask Him to.
And when Jesus was woken from his nap on the cushions over the water that He created, He only had 3 things to say: A question, a statement, and a rebuke.
The question and the statement are sorta in one: “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Essentially what Jesus was saying was “Trust me.”
But why were they afraid? Because they were focused on their problems and everything that was wrong with their situation, rather than the person that was in their boat. They could have woken Jesus at any time. Instead they chose to try things out on their own and as a result they got themselves worked up over something that was not even a problem for the one napping right next to them.
This ties into why Jesus says “…O you of little faith?” It’s easy to forget that Jesus is in our boat. It’s easy to start panicking over the things we see. Remember when Peter was walking on water. He looked at the wind and waves and got scared because He forgot who was holding him up. The water could have been perfectly calm and Peter still would have started sinking. It wasn’t the wind and waves; it was the fact that Jesus wasn’t the center of his attention anymore.
The more we keep Jesus at the forefront of our lives, the more our faith will grow and the more miracles we will experience on a daily basis. Because it has nothing to do with how hard we work, or how bad our situation is. If Jesus is in our boat and Jesus is who we focus on, everything else will listen to Him.
Which brings me to the rebuke of Jesus. After not coming to Him first, fighting for their lives, panicking, then waking Him from His nap Jesus only has one rebuke. But it’s not even for the disciples. It’s for the wind and waves. Don’t be afraid to bring Jesus into your life, even it if takes a while, Jesus will not reprimand you or judge you. He will be glad you asked and He will rebuke the storm for bothering you in the first place.
You might say Jesus telling His disciples “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith” is a bit of a rebuke. But I don’t see it that way. It says that after He said this, “then he rose and rebuked the winds…” Jesus was still lying down when He said these things. Jesus probably woke up seeing His disciples around Him fearing for their lives, so He tells them there is nothing to worry about.
Is it not beautiful to see Jesus waking only to the cry of His own, like a father who will pick out the cry of his child from a crowd? Call on Jesus and He will comfort you, then He will calm the storm.
Soldier In Starlight 
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