Why are you so frightened? How is it you have no faith?

Jesus had done many miracles (Mark 1-3) preceding the storm- he had cast out unclean spirits, he cured those who were sick, cured the man of skin disease, healed the paralytic and the man with a withered hand , explained to his disciples what the kingdom of God meant and yet after all these, the apostles still lacked faith. They walked with Jesus all the way through and yet when the storm was tossing their boat, they asked him, ‘Master, do you not care?”

Many of us are like the apostles too. We have seen God’s work in our lives and in the lives of others, prayers answered and yet when we are in the midst of our storm and we do not see things going the way we want, we are so frightened and we ask God “Do you not care?”

“Whether we like it or not, God intends to give us what we need, not what we now think we want.”

C.S. Lewis

If God has allowed a storm to toss our lives, then we have no choice but to ride out the storm. It takes faith, knowing we have a God who is infinite in wisdom, love and goodness will want what is best for His creation. After all, He created the world and everything in it. He sent His son to die for us to defeat death and set us free. So why would He not care?

In 1948, when fears and anxiety of atomic bomb was debilitating the society and people asked ‘how are we to live in an atomic age?” C.S. Lewis wrote:

“the first action to be taken is to pull ourselves together. If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds.” “On Living in an Atomic Age” (1948) in Present Concerns: Journalistic Essays

Fear can be crippling if we allow it to dominate our minds and we can lose hope even before reality strikes. Faith is a surrender to a benevolent God who loves us as we are. Things may not go the way we want it, but if we have a conviction that God is in control, we can experience His peace and joy amidst the storm. So let us continue doing sensible and human things, knowing that we have a loving God who is in command.