Never Asleep
And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” (Matthew 8:24–25)
Have ever felt as though Jesus were asleep when you were calling on Him? Have you ever wondered, Hey, Lord, where are you? Are you paying attention?
That is how the disciples must have felt when they found themselves in a boat during a radical storm, fearing for their very lives. Despite the weather conditions, Jesus was sound asleep.
I have seen a boat very similar to the boat the disciples would have been in. There is a museum in Israel that houses what is known as the Jesus Boat, which is like the boat these fishermen would have had. This was not a sophisticated craft, but a very simple little boat. Jesus managed to go to sleep in the little area underneath the top deck, most likely exhausted after a hard day of ministry.
In a technical sense, Jesus was asleep, but in a broader sense, God never sleeps. We are told in Psalm 121:4, “Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.”
Jesus could sleep because He was resting confidently in the will of His Father. And the disciples should have done that, too. He told them they would be fine. In Mark’s version of this same story, Jesus told them, “Let us cross over to the other side” (Mark 4:35). And that meant they would cross over to the other side. He didn’t promise them an easy trip. But He did promise them a safe arrival.
And although the shrieking of the storm did not wake Jesus, the cry of His people did. The moment the disciples cried out, He responded immediately and powerfully.
We need to do what the disciples did when we find ourselves in the midst of life’s storms: we need to cry out to Jesus.
Summary sentence: Have you ever felt like Jesus was asleep?
Tags: storms, sleep
Copyright © 2012 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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