In Ps 89:9, I read:
“You rule over the surging sea; when its waves mount up, you still them.”.
This is repeated in Ps 107:29, where it states:
“He
stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed.”
In both
these verses it is clear that it is only God Himself Who can calm the storms on
sea, just by His command.
So when we read that this is exactly what Jesus did, written about in Matthew 8:26:
“Jesus responded, “Why are you afraid? You have so little faith!” Then he
got up and rebuked the wind and waves, and suddenly there was a great calm.”
– we can only come to one conclusion:
Jesus is God!
I
wonder why the Pharisees of the time, who knew the quoted Psalms so well, did
not make this connection?
There
is a parallel to this in Job 9:8 which says “He alone stretches
out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea.” Jesus comes walking on the stormy water waves
in Matt 14:25 “And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking
on the sea.”, proving yet again that He is God.
Be that
as it may, we can be greatly comforted by these verses in two ways:
1. Firstly, we know that
Jesus is God, so we know that ALL promises made by Jesus will be
faithfully kept by Him. This includes His
command to us to not fear - He says do not fear nor be afraid, for I am with
you, unto the end of all ages!
2. And secondly, we know without
a doubt that Jesus will still the storms raging in our lives. The storm that the disciples faced on that
boat was violent, and arose suddenly.
And where was Jesus? Peacefully
sleeping, while His men were rushing around in great panic, fearing for their
very lives! And His very first words
upon being awakened by them, were: Why
are you afraid?
And
this is still true today. If Jesus is in
your boat – why are you afraid?
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