With The Lord In The Boat

W. R. Dronsfield

LUKE 8: 22-25

This incident is told three times in the New Testament, indicating its importance. It vividly presents a wonderful Person, both God and Man-the unknowable Son; for nobody comprehends the Son. We can know the Father if the Son reveals Him to us, but no one can know the mystery of the Son. Those who seek to explain to our finite understanding how Godhead and Manhood can be in one Person, only spoil the truth, and present a false Christ to us in some important particular.

Here we have a real Man, tired out by His unremitting service, who fell asleep (the word implies a deep sleep). Only in His Manhood could the Son of God suffer tiredness, hunger, thirst, physical pain and death. God the Son became a Man in order that He might endure all these things, yet His Person never changed. The One who was in the form of God and equal with God, was the same Person who became obedient to the death of the cross. (Philippians 2: 6-8).

The disciples were doing what He had told them to do. He had said, "Let us go over unto the other side". Why then did the storm arise to impede them? It is when we are in the pathway of God's will that Satan's forces are aroused against us. Satan is happy to leave us in calm waters when we are going our own way, but when we are in the line of God's interests we experience the force of the adversary. They cry out in fear, "Master, Master, we perish". What unnecessary fears and anxieties may strike the hearts of believers!

Then we see this wonderful Person arise from His sleep, and with all the power of the infinite Creator rebuke the winds and the waves so that there is an immediate calm. No mere man could do such a thing! This was the Person who had gathered the waters under the heaven unto one place (Genesis 1: 9); who had made the sea stand up as a solid wall to give the Israelites passage.

Then He turns to His astonished disciples and says, "Where is your faith?" These disciples had had the faith to enter the boat with their Master, but it was not great enough to keep them at peace. Many receive Christ as their Saviour and Lord and have faith to commit their souls to Him for eternity; but their faith falters when something unexpected happens in their pathway here. Let us pray that the Lord may increase our faith so that we are prepared for the storms and never lose our confidence in Him.

We have a Great High Priest in Heaven who is both God and Man. Having been through all human adversity and sorest temptations-sin apart-He sympathizes with our infirmities and is eager to help us. With all the power of Deity, He will give grace to help in time of need. We may have to wait His time, but He is always with us in the boat and therefore we cannot sink.

If we are disobedient like Jonah, and the storm is produced by God not Satan, yet still His arm is outstretched to save us. If we confess our sins (Jonah 1: 10), and repent (Jonah 2: 7), He will bring us through to dry land (Jonah 2: 10).

"The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus". (Philippians 4: 6-7).