"Preach the Word,

Have you ever been "in over your head?" When I was probably seven or eight years old, I found myself trying to learn to swim.  Literally, I was in the pool in over my head, which meant that even the shallow end was deeper than I was tall! I was in over my head, coughing and sputtering. The next thing I knew, my Dad pulled me out and I was not interested in learning to swim anymore.

About fifteen years later, I found myself standing again concerned that I again was in over my heard while facing the 20 ft. "deep end" of a pool in the Marine Corps.  I was getting ready to step off a high platform with a full combat load to perform a "man-overboard" drill.  This time I was in over my head with a full 50 lbs rucksack. I was going to be treading water and buying time with all the energy I had!

Well, I made it out alive then, too, but I have found that much of my life has been spent "in over my head." Have you ever found yourself in a similar situation where things are bigger and greater than your abilities to handle them? These times are not bad; this is when we look for the help we need. I have sometimes thought we are a little hard on people when we make the statement, "The only time you pray is when you are in big trouble!" I can understand the thinking, but the matter of the fact is, we are always in trouble and I can't think of a better time to be praying!

In Matthew 8:23-27, a group of men find themselves in over their heads. The disciples had followed the Lord Jesus onto a boat, and then in verse 24, a storm comes and "the ship was covered with the waves: but he [Jesus] was asleep." Has it ever occurred to you that the Lord never worries about anything? Nothing takes God by surprise. God never has problems, and you are never a problem to God. But the disciples woke the Lord Jesus and say, "Lord, save us: we perish." In another of the Gospels, the disciples say, "Carest thou not that we perish?" Ever felt that way, that you are about to perish?

Notice that the Lord rebukes the disciples first, then the trouble. Often we want God to take care of the problem first, then work on us. But God is using the problems to teach us. We can learn from this passage that when we follow, we need not fear. Problems can come precisely because you are following.

Not everything is going to be easy after you give yourself to the Lord. You will have problems that you would not otherwise have if you were not following the Lord. There will be problems because the Devil wants to derail your decision to follow Christ. The presence of problems does not always mean that you are doing wrong, nor does the absence of problems mean that you are doing God's will. Think about the disciples: they were safer with the Lord in the boat than they would have been on solid ground without Him.

If "the winds and sea obey him," then it doesn't make sense for us to question God's working or to drag our feet in following Him. (The weather never questions God, but we do.) The winds and sea obey Christ because he made them-He is the Creator. Not only that, but He has power over them-He is in control. And He can calm them.