Faith vs. Fear

It was like any other day for Jesus and His disciples. Jesus had been healing, preaching, and teaching by the lake. Soon evening came and Jesus said to His disciples that they should all go to the other side of the lake. Being used to boats, this would be an ordinary, routine task. So the disciples and Jesus went on their way. Jesus decided to go to sleep in the back of the boat, but while He was sleeping a huge storm broke out and the disciples went crazy. Wind and waves started to overtake the boat. I can see them frantically rushing to row to land or dump out as much water as they could. They were in a new and crazy situation and they were afraid that they would sink. One of the disciples then wakes Jesus up from his rest and is like “yo teacher, don’t you care if we drown?!” 

I can see Jesus slowly get up from His nap. Jesus then addresses the storm. 

Jesus, with a calm yet stern response, tells the storm to be quiet. Then the storm immediately slumps back into its rest.

Jesus then turns to the disciples and says, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

Now, this is interesting. 

The trained fishermen who have been on this lake numerous times are in a storm that makes them kinda nervous. It’s honestly threatening their lives. If these trained fishermen are scared I know I would be scared too. I don’t like the idea of drowning lol. 

But Jesus didn’t seem to have the same sympathy. This storm wasn’t an excuse. 

I would have definitely been scared in this situation. Fear seems warranted. It makes sense to be afraid when you are in the dark, and a storm you can’t control is destroying everything you are holding on to. It makes sense to be afraid when the professionals are afraid. It makes sense to be worried when you are trying your hardest to stay afloat and nothing seems to be working.

Yet Jesus says, Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith? 

These questions are way more connected than we may think on the surface.

What do I mean by that? 

Fear is the uncertainty of wellbeing in the future. Fear is thinking about what could possibly happen in your future and getting anxious because you don’t think you can handle whatever may be coming down the pipeline. 

Faith is like the positive cousin of that.

Faith is believing in someone who not only knows the future but is strong enough to fight anything that will come in the way. Faith is not knowing the future but trusting that it will be ok because you know who does. 

Fear is living in the future with what something might do, while faith is living in the freedom of what someone has already done. 

Fear is focusing on something bigger than you. Faith is focusing on someone bigger than you.

Fear is focusing on the possibility of problems. Faith is focusing on the proximity of Jesus’ peace. 

Jesus obviously had no problem. He was in the boat with them. The rain had to be hitting him on his face too. Yo if the boat was filling with water I know Jesus at least had some wet socks or something, but get this…. He wasn’t fazed. 

I believe Jesus didn’t panic because he knew what he could handle. He knew He was bigger than this storm. He knew he would make it to the other side if He said He would make it to the other side. He knew his father still had a purpose for Him and a little storm wasn’t going to stand between that!

Jesus was chilling because He knew His strength. 

And the disciples were afraid because they focused on theirs. 

The reason the disciples were way more worried than Jesus was in the midst of this storm was because they were trying to navigate it in their own ability, know-how, and strength, like the Creator of the universe wasn’t with them. Or like He hadn’t already spoken over their trip?!?

They were relying on their own ability to fight the obstacles in their way and that’s why fear arose. If they truly trusted in the power of someone bigger than their storm, the storm wouldn’t be a threat to them. Obstacles in our way only seem big when we look at them through our power and not through faith in Jesus’s power. 

So many times Jesus calls us to do things and we get discouraged on the trip because we start focusing on the storm. No one knows what's going on! The professionals are scared too. But Jesus is right there in the boat with us chilling. We have nothing to worry about. 

Jesus told them to go. Jesus led them to go. Jesus planned for them to go. So Jesus was going to see to it that they got to where they were going. 

They let fear into their trip by forgetting that Jesus was in charge of this expedition. 

My brother, Pax, did the response for Pastor Alfonzo Greene, the consecration speaker for the class of ‘24 at Oakwood and he said something that I liked. 

He talked about how this year has been wild for his class. They missed graduation, class trips, and proms. And now they’re going into college and have no idea what to expect. They are in a storm. But he said he wants his class to start responding with “It’s all a part of the plan” when people ask how they feel about everything. Why you may ask? Because even though this is trash, even though this is tough, even though we are all in storms that we have never been in before, Jesus promises that ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER for the GOOD of those who love God. It’s part of the plan. And that is a reminder we all need to live by. He is with us and He promises to get us through!

Jesus told the disciples to go with him. It was a part of his plan for them to make it through.

Jesus said, “let us”...

Jesus said let us go to the other side.  Let us. Us. Me and you. Both of us, i.e. you’re going to make it too. 

If we could only recognize that it is Jesus who is leading, so much fear of the journey would be lost. It’s not our job to map out how this is going to work. Jesus has already done that and we just need to allow him to go before us on the way. 

When the disciples woke Jesus up they called him teacher. Now I don’t know about you, but that means a lot to me. And I don’t think they really realized what it means for Jesus to be their teacher. 

My mom has been an extraordinary teacher for years. She homeschooled my brothers and I and now she’s an amazing kindergarten teacher at FH Jenkins Preparatory school. 

(you should check out my mom’s Youtube Channel—Mrs. Fordham’s Classroom—for virtual schooling tips and tricks… very shameless plug lol https://youtu.be/KGRob1VFcSg)

I’ve seen how much time and effort my mom takes to plan out an individualized lesson plan for each student so that they can adequately move forward into bigger things. I think Jesus is the same way as an intentional teacher. He’s studied us, he knows our learning style, he knows our academic, social, and emotional strengths and weaknesses, and He’s developed a plan to take us to exactly where we need to be. It may feel like a storm, but just like a good teacher, He promises not to give us more than we can handle and He promises to never leave us on the journey!

As a teacher, Jesus is going to lead you throughout some lessons you wouldn’t think you would need, lol but that’s just the point. You don’t know what you need. You can't see that far ahead. Trust Jesus’ lesson. 

The disciples are a great picture of how many times in life Jesus leads us through storms because He knows they are needed for the building of our character, and pointing out our lack of faith. 

So we are all in storms. How do we replace our fear with faith?

Fear can be replaced with faith when we set our attention back on Jesus instead of our storms. Life is hard. There are struggles. But I promise my God is bigger than anything you will ever come across. My God has already won any battle you are facing. And my God has already prepared for any and every need you will ever have. Trust him. He’s a good teacher. He will never leave you. He will never give you more than you can handle. He knows what he’s doing with this class. 

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