Hush Now, Be Still!

Matthew 8:23-27 23And after He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him. 24And suddenly, behold, there arose a violent storm on the sea, so that the boat was being covered up by the waves; but He was sleeping.  25And they went and awakened Him, saying, Lord, rescue and preserve us! We are perishing!  26And He said to them, Why are you timid and afraid, O you of little faith? Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great and wonderful calm (a perfect peaceableness).   27And the men were stunned with bewildered wonder and marveled, saying, What kind of Man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him!

There are so many things we can learn from this passage. Let’s start at the beginning. The disciples and Jesus were traveling by boat, when a great storm rose up. It says here the waves were so big they were even covering the boat! Quite a few of those disciples had been professional fishermen, so I am pretty sure they had seen a storm or two in their time. This particular storm however, was big enough that the disciples were afraid that they were going to die. Where was Jesus in the midst of this? He was sleeping, not affected by what was going on around Him. The disciples had to go wake Him up.  When He woke up He wasn’t concerned about the storm, He just wondered why the disciples were afraid. He stood up and told the waves to be quiet and the wind to stop and it says there was a great and wonderful calm.
I wonder why Jesus wasn’t afraid. Did He just know that He had authority over things in the natural? Was it because He knew that the storm would have to obey Him? These things are true, but unless the disciples woke Him up, would He have even known there was a storm going on at all? Or would He have continued sleeping as if nothing was happening? Jesus was unaffected by the natural circumstances going on around Him. He knew that whatever came along, He had dominion and authority over it so it wasn’t even an issue for Him. Mark chapter 4 tells this same story, it says in verses 39-40 39And He arose and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, Hush now! Be still (muzzled)! And the wind ceased (sank to rest as if exhausted by its beating) and there was [immediately] a great calm (a perfect peacefulness). 40He said to them, Why are you so timid and fearful? How is it that you have no faith (no firmly relying trust)?
We can learn from Jesus. When we trust that He lives in us, we have dominion and authority over anything that comes into our lives too. The storms that come against us might not be thunderstorms. They might be financial pressures, problems in our homes, or stress at work. Instead of allowing the storms of life to affect us, we can stand up and say, “Hush now, be still” to our situations and see that great and wonderful calm, that perfect peacefulness to come to our circumstances too.