…Don’t give in to doomsday thinking
Bad news slams into us, and we imagine our world is falling apart. Jesus’ twelve disciples thought this many times. Yet they didn’t need to, because Jesus gave his disciples clues about a good future, but they missed the hope he offered. How often we do the same thing! Please join me as I see how Jesus reassured them, so we can calm ourselves too.
My Bible labels the verses in Luke 8:22-25, “Jesus Calms the Storm,” but Jesus also calmed his disciples. In verse 22b, Jesus said, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.” Jesus did not say, “Let’s drown in the lake.” He gave a clue about their successful lake crossing. But his disciples missed this clue. Jesus confirmed his clue of safety, because verse 23a says, “As they sailed across, Jesus settled down for a nap.” Jesus felt comfortable enough to go to sleep as the men handled the boat.
This was not the first time Jesus had handled attacks in front of the disciples. For example, the Pharisees and teachers of the religious law said that Jesus was guilty of blasphemy, because only God can forgive sins (Luke 5:21.) Often religious leaders would kill someone accused of blasphemy. Furthermore, in Luke 4:28-29, a mob tried to murder Jesus for his claim of being God. The disciples knew Jesus had overcome danger before. So their next experience was not unusual, as Luke8: 23b, describes, “They were in real danger.” They had prior reassurance Jesus could handle danger.
Yet the disciples did not trust Jesus as verse 24a confirms, “The disciples went and woke him up, shouting, ‘Master, Master, we’re going to drown.’” They did not calmly tell Jesus that they were facing new danger. They shouted and called on him twice, as if once was not enough. The disciples rushed to making doomsday predictions, something I sometimes do too.
Too often I expect destruction, because of really bad things that have threatened me in the past. But threats are not the same as final outcomes. A storm may threaten, but not overtake us. Jesus’ knew this when he responded to the storm. The second half of verse 24 (24b) says, “…he rebuked the wind and raging waves. Suddenly the storm stopped and all was calm.” After he rebuked the storm he rebuked his disciples (verse 25a) “Where is your faith?”
The disciples did not jump to the conclusion that since Jesus had protected them, they could rest in his love. The same verse (25b) also says, “The disciples were terrified and amazed and said, ‘Who is this man?’ And they lacked faith to rest in their trust of him. In that verse, the disciples asked who Jesus was. But later, in chapter 9:20b Peter said, “You are the Messiah sent from God!” So his faith was growing, but very slowly, since we know that at Jesus’ trial before his crucifixion, Peter denied knowing Jesus.
So how did Peter and the other ten disciples develop such deep faith in Jesus, that they would calmly face death for his name, many years later? Much of the answer rests in the difference between Jesus’ mission and the wrong idea the disciples had for his mission, early in Jesus’ ministry. Early on, the disciples wanted Jesus to conquer Rome and set up his Kingdom on earth. In Matt. 20:20-21 James and John’s mother asked for her sons to sit next to Jesus in his kingdom, which they assumed would be immediate and on earth. Furthermore, in Acts 1:16 the disciples asked Jesus, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”
Because the disciples assumed Jesus must overcome Rome and set up an earthly kingdom, they believed Jesus had to live long. And the disciples planned to rule with him, so they had to live too. Thus they were terrified by the storm, because drowning would have killed all of them and then ruined their plans for an earthly Messiah to overthrow the Roman government.
But Jesus knew why he had come to earth. He knew he would not drown, because God had told him how he would die for sinners. As a result Jesus had peace, even in the storm with the disciples. He had told his mother, “My hour has not yet come,” in John 2:4. Throughout the Gospel of John, Jesus confirmed his reason for coming to the earth (John 4:34, 10:10, 10:18, 12:27.) In Isaiah 50:7, the prophet prophesized about Jesus, “Therefore I have set my face like flint, and I will not be put to shame,” and Jesus echoed these words in Luke 9:51, “When the days were approaching for his ascension…he set his face to go to Jerusalem.” Jesus knew he would die on a cross for our sins, and not in a boat with his disciples.
The disciples needed to understand Jesus will after his ascension, and that could only happen if they received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Initially the Spirit only lived with them, as Jesus said in John 14:17b, “…he lives with you now and later will be in you.” Jesus promised the disciples power when the Holy Spirit came upon them (Acts1:8.) Once they had that power, they could calmly face danger like the kind that terrified them in the boat with him on that stormy night (Luke chapter 8.)
After Jesus’ resurrection, his disciples suffered hardship and disappointment, even though they now followed his plan. Paul admitted that at times he thought he would not survive, (2 Cors.1:8b-9a “We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it. In fact, we expected to die.”) In another translation, it says that Paul “despaired of life itself.” Despair is a strong choice of words, and sounds like doomsday thinking. Yet God spared Paul.
So why do godly people become terrified and believe the worst things can happen, as the disciples believed about drowning? We forget to follow Jesus’ lead. He promised the disciples, in Luke 8, that they would cross to the other side of that lake. He showed them he was confident when he took a nap. Jesus tells us we can trust him with our spiritual lives, even when our earthly lives may be threatened and we become exhausted. Paul knew this was why he suffered for preaching the Gospel, and his weariness caused his despair as quoted in 2 Cor.1:8b-9a. Christians will suffer. At times our suffering exhausts us and seems like more than we can bear.
So we must follow Jesus’ lead. Since he promises he will carry us through, we also need to call out to him, even if we initially call out desperately as the disciples did when they yelled to Jesus that they were drowning (Luke chapt.8.) Jesus does not turn us away, even if he might scold us for having a weak faith (as he did with his disciples in that chapter.) Jesus did not abandon them, even though they were weak.
Jesus kept teaching them. When we are weak, even if we get frantic and desperate and cry and fuss, Jesus is still listening to us. Even if we drive our friends crazy, insisting we are doomed, Jesus can calm us, and that is what he wants to do. I should not freak out, but at times I still do. I do it less often, but I do still think bad things could happen.
But now I remind myself about the past, when God helped me through hard times. I also remind myself about the future. In Revelation, Jesus shows me he will fully conquer evil. So I can trust in my earthly assignment (love God and share the Gospel with fellow sinners who don’t yet know him), and I can have confidence in my future (in heaven.)
I have learned to tell Jesus all the scary things that are upsetting me. At times I do so calmly, and on occasion, I do still freak out, as the disciples did. Our human nature sees problems as so much larger than they are. But we can remind ourselves of the times Jesus got us through our problems in the recent past, and as he did with the Israelites’ problems in the distant past. Then we can calm our thoughts (Hebrews 12:2-3). Finally we can remind ourselves of the victory Jesus has already earned for us. And when we do, God calms our thoughts and hearts. We just have to be patient with ourselves.
I pray I have encouraged you with the hope Jesus gives us in our storms. They are real. The threats are real. But Jesus is with us in the boat of our lives, and he wants to reassure us, we will be OK. May the Lord bless you this week.