Jesus & his disciples were in a boat on the sea of Galilee. While Jesus was taking a nap (setting for us one of my favorite examples of Godly behavior) a violent storm arose and scared the disciples into thinking they were about to die (Matthew 8:23-27, Mark 4:35-41 and Luke 8:22-25).

In their fear, they woke Jesus up asking him to save them. With a word of rebuke he calmed the storm and then asked these men who followed him a question that resonates with me yet today after more than six decades of also following him. The question?..... “Why are you afraid you men of little faith?”

What exactly did he mean? Were they wrong to be afraid? Were they wrong to wake him up? Were they supposed to think that they were automatically safe because he was with them? He offered no explanation. Well, he offered no direct explanation.

But there was an implication and that implication was that the answer to fear is faith.

Faith in the God who spoke the universe into existence.

Faith in the one who created and preserved against all odds an nation of people in order to bring his son into the world as one of them.

Faith in the God who brought the most powerful nation in the world to its knees through an 80-year-old shepherd with a stick.

Faith in the God who provided food in the wilderness and water in the desert…. from a rock.

Faith in the God who punished his people with captivity, but reestablished them in the land he gave them after 70 years just like he promised.

Faith in the God who raises up nations and then puts them down when it is time.

Faith in the God who, rather than calling us to power and conquest, teaches us that the truly important things of the law are Justice, Mercy and Faithfulness.

Yes, faith. Not just any faith. He calls us to specifically and deliberately put our faith in Him. He is teaching us to follow him, his teachings and his principles and trust him for the outcome. He is teaching us to forego anxiety and worry even while we look at the chaos taking place all around us that tends to instill fear. He has shown us time and again that he alone is in command of how everything will all turn out.

His question, “Why are you afraid?”, compels me to conclude that he means for me to stop being afraid and to start believing in Him.

That’s a helpful question. What is my answer?