Learning To Trust God

Luke 8:22-25

Modern Americans think problems are abnormal. They assume that everything will always get better and that nothing will go wrong. This is the reason people engage in extreme sports. It is also why they go into huge debt for a home or other things. It was widely assumed that the price of homes would never go down, so people viewed it as a convenient bank account. A salesman told me, “You know your wages will go up.” I didn’t so I didn’t buy the car he wanted to sell me. They didn’t go up and I was glad I hadn’t listened.

Job 5:7 declares, “Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.” Problems are as natural as sparks from a fire rising in the smoke. Problems are always going to occur. This is just as true for a Christian who walks with the Lord as for the worst sinner. Jonah experienced a horrible storm because of his rebellion against God, but the apostles had a similar experience while doing exactly what the Lord commanded, and staying right with him.

“Now it came to pass on a certain day, that he went into a ship with his disciples: and he said unto them, Let us go over unto the other side of the lake. And they launched forth. But as they sailed he fell asleep: and there came down a storm of wind on the lake; and they were filled with water, and were in jeopardy.” (Luke 8:22-23)

Jonah was oblivious to what his sin had caused, like many today, but when he understood the situation, he had no doubt as to the cause. The apostles, on the other hand, had no clue as to the reason, and were very aware of the danger. Many times, we are in the middle of storms that have nothing to do with what we have done, and there is nothing we can do to calm the storm. Like the apostles, the only thing we can do is let the Lord know our concerns.

“And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Master, master, we perish. Then he arose, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water: and they ceased, and there was a calm.” (Luke 8:24)

While both Jesus and Jonah were asleep when the storms started, Jesus wasn’t concerned, because he knew that God was in control and he had nothing to fear. Jonah was asleep because he was not facing his own sin.

The apostles needed to learn what Jesus meant in John 16:33. “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” There is nothing this world that can happen without God’s approval. I Corinthians 10:13 is very clear about God control over things. “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”

Since God has the final say about what we experience, there is no reason for fear, if we have doing what God commanded. Romans 8:28 states, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Even the worst things that happen to us will ultimately result in our good, if we allow God to have his way. If we refuse, we may find ourselves, like Jonah, in worse shape. The fear the apostles had was a result of undeveloped faith.

“And he said unto them, Where is your faith? And they being afraid wondered, saying one to another, What manner of man is this! for he commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey him.” (Luke 8:25)

Only by experiencing the Lord’s power themselves could the apostles learn how great it was. They were amazed to learn that he could even control the weather and the forces of nature, despite the miracles they had seen him do. Frequently, the trials and problems we experience are to teach us to trust him the same way. Instead of getting upset when things go wrong, James instructs us to rejoice and give thanks.

“My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” (James 1:2-4)
The apostles and disciples had to learn this lesson, and we also must. They had the same experience more than once before they began to get it and most of us face the same trials repeatedly. If we yield ourselves, little by little we will come to realize God took care of it last time, and he will again. There aren’t any shortcuts to strong faith.