#12 「你們的信心太小了，為什麼害怕呢？」

"耶穌上了船，門徒也跟著祂上了船。 忽然，湖面上狂風大作，波濤洶湧，船快要被巨浪吞沒，耶穌卻在睡覺。 門徒連忙叫醒耶穌，說：「主啊，救命！我們快淹死了！」

耶穌答道：「你們的信心太小了，為什麼害怕呢？」於是祂起來斥責風和浪，風浪就完全平靜了。門徒很驚奇，說：「祂 究竟是什麼人？連風浪都聽祂的！」"

馬太福音 8:23-27 Chinese Contemporary Bible

親愛的主，

當我讀到這段經時，我的第一個反應是你對他們太嚴厲了。 當生命危在旦夕的時候，誰會不害怕呢？你的責備似乎有點無理取鬧，指責他們膽怯、缺乏信心。 當我試圖將自己置於他們的處境中時，我開始懷疑其中一些人在跟隨耶穌之前是漁民。 什麼樣的洶湧的風浪他們沒遇見過？在這場風暴中，肯定不僅僅存在他們所預期的物理威脅。

也許這是你要教導他們剛才上船之前所說的實際教訓。 你說明了跟隨你意味著什麼，就是「人子連枕頭的地方都沒有」。 也就是說跟隨主耶穌不一定生活平靜安穩。 這種不安有可能是他們已經不是漁夫的身份，去哪裏，下一步怎樣應付，都已經不在他們掌控之中。也許這失去的掌控感就是跟隨耶穌時同樣要捨棄的安全感。

您正在向您的門徒展示他們所委身於的生活。 就好像當暴風雨來臨時，你正睡在一艘快要下沉的船上！但在你身上，或有你的同在，就肯定有生命，我相信經歷過風雨的生命比平凡平庸的生命更珍貴、更有活力。不是嗎？

主啊，我希望我不僅看到而且見證你是一位怎樣的神，在經歷了人生的無數風暴之後，雖然生命不在我掌控中， 看似快要下沉的 ，我仍然在你裡面找到平安和安全感。想到這裏你的斥責，就沒有那麼嚴苛了!

感謝主，在我生命中的每一次風暴中，我都不自喪命，或者失去盼望，因為你一直都與我同在。

阿門

#12 ‘Why are you afraid, you of little faith?’

"And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. A gale arose on the lake, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him up, saying, ‘Lord, save us! We are perishing!’ And he said to them, ‘Why are you afraid, you of little faith?’ Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a dead calm. They were amazed, saying, ‘What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?’

Matthew 8:23-27

Dear Lord,

As I was reading this passage, my first response was that you are being too harsh on them. Who wouldn’t be afraid when their life is on the line? Your rebuke seems a bit unreasonable and judgmental, calling them cowardly and of little faith. As I was trying to put myself into their situation, I began to wonder some of these men were fishermen before they followed Jesus. What kind of rough water they haven’t seen? There must be more than just the physical threats that they are anticipating in this storm. Maybe it is an object lesson to what you just talked about before boarding the boat. You explained what it means to follow you, where “the Son of Man has no place even to lay his head.”

You are showing your disciples exactly the kind of life they are committed to. It is a life that we choose to let go of our control and sense of security that we follow wherever you are. At the moment of the storm, you were sleeping on a drowning boat! But in you, there is for sure life, life that came out of a storm is more precious and vibrant than a mundane and mediocre one. Isn’t it?

Lord, I hope that I not only see but testify what kind of God you are after life’s numerous storms and still find peace and security in you.

Thank you, Lord for being there in every storm in my life.

Amen