INCREASE OUR FAITH

Increase Our Faith

Jesus got into the boat and started across the lake with his disciples. Suddenly, a terrible storm came up, with waves breaking into the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went to him and woke him up, shouting, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!” And Jesus answered, “Why are you afraid? You have so little faith!”Matthew 8:23-26

The storm that came up that night struck terror in these veteran fishermen’s hearts. Would they be shipwrecked? Would they perish? They panicked and doubted whether Jesus was aware of or even cared if they drowned. Like the disciples, we sometimes get into troubles that feel so overwhelming, storms that rage so furiously, that we’re sure our boat is about to be swamped and we’ll drown. It may seem to us—as it did to the disciples in today’s verses—that Jesus is sleeping, that he is unconcerned and unaware of our plight, and we cry, “Lord, save us!” When we are panicked and overwhelmed, Jesus asks us as he did that day on the Sea of Galilee, “Why are you afraid? You have so little faith!”

Though the storms will come again and again, Jesus is always with us and is working within us through these experiences to develop a faith that can withstand any tumultuous trial, any waves of difficulty.

OH, LORD, we forget that you are in the boat with us, that you rule over the wind and waves and storms in our lives. Increase our faith so that even in the midst of great turbulence we will not panic but will trust you to care for us. Let our spirits be able to rest at all times because your presence is always greater than any stormy circumstance we will face.

IT IS FAITH THAT BRINGS POWER, NOT MERELY PRAYING AND WEEPING AND STRUGGLING, BUT BELIEVING, DARING TO BELIEVE THE WRITTEN WORD WITH OR WITHOUT FEELING.Catherine Booth (1829–1890)