Matthew 8:25–And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” 

If you ever had the chance to be around elderly people who feel like their “time is up”, then you know there is a difference between the illusion we are “perishing” and the reality of it.  I had the privilege to spend time with my grandmother 2 months before she passed in her sleep.  I’ll never forget that summer she told me that she was ready to go, and two months later it happened…

To this day I believe that if the Lord wills for me to die old, than I will have a sense that my time is up.  But that intuition is much different, than the illusion I have had throughout my life wondering in panic, if the Lord will save me from perishing!  Sadly, such thoughts come upon me, when I feel anxious about seeming too overwhelming for me to handle…

Much like the disciples, such premature thoughts of perishing have come when it has been the Lord, who has led me to be with Him “on the boat” in a storm!  So what God reveals in my anxiety is my lack of trust in His character.  That God hasn’t brought me with Him to perish, because He could’ve allowed that while I was an unbeliever.  My panicked questioning in the storm, makes me consider why I doubt Him to deliver me?

Trusting the Lord, has a lot to do with changing the need we have to preserve ourselves.  Thinking that God has brought us out to a storm, and left us for dead.  When in reality, He has put us in the situation to learn to trust in Him alone, with no way of delivering ourselves!

Remember the children of Israel’s “knee jerk reaction” was to go back to Egypt when God “left them” to trust and endure.  When in reality, there running back to Egypt, revealed their lack of faith in God’s character.  Examine yourself whether you are trusting God in the storm, or complaining to Him about leaving you to perish in it, while looking to preserve yourself?

In His Love, LD