And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!” (Mark 4:41)

The disciples panicked when the storm on the sea of Galilee threatened their lives. In fear, they asked their sleeping Master if He did not care that they perished. Then, Jesus arose from His sleep and rebuked the wind and the waves, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!”. And there suddenly came a great calm. Witnessing His supernatural power over nature, the disciples responded in fear, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!”

Some of life’s storms come upon us suddenly. Such storms could be job loss, family illness or death, financial difficulty, accidents, or pestilence. In the midst of storm, we are scared and we cry out to God and pray earnestly. If God does not give any apparent response or delay His help, we may ask, does Jesus care?

Jesus said to the disciples, “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?” Faith is the answer to fear. Jesus rebuked their little faith in light of the fact that He had commanded the trip across the Sea of Galilee (Mark 4:35), and He was with them on the boat (v.38). We know God is with us because we have His Spirit with us – the indwelling Holy Spirit, and we also have His promises. We can find many promises in the Bible that He is with us. He promised in John 16: 33, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

God works in our lives. He tests our faith in order that we might grow. In the midst of life’s storm, we shall remind ourselves that Jesus is Lord and He controls. He will take us through the storm if we let God take control and surrender to Him. By allowing God to do His work, we will reap the benefit of an increase in our faith. So why are we still so afraid of storms when we know that it is in the storm that God comforts and strengthens us, and equips us for service?