Is God Your First Choice or Last Resort?

Is God Your First Choice or Last Resort?

Matthew 8:23-27 “And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. A wind storm arose on the sea, 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?”

This is an interesting story.  Jesus was in the boat with all of his disciples and there was a wind storm.  The boat was being swamped by waves and everyone on it was afraid.  Everyone except Jesus, He was asleep.  When I hear this story I wonder why Jesus was asleep.  I mean I am sure He was tired as He was teaching so much.  Everywhere He went, He was swarmed by people who wanted to hear Him teach and wanted Him to heal themselves and their loved ones.  I guess it makes sense that He would be asleep.  

I guess I am more wondering how He could sleep through all the craziness of the storm.  I am sure it was probably loud on the boat with the disciples doing all they could to save the boat.  As I wrote that, I felt as though the Holy Spirit said, “And there in lies the problem.”  I was questioning when I first read this verse why Jesus said, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?”  I didn’t understand why Jesus would have said they had little faith.  And then when I just said, the disciples were doing all they could to save the boat it hit me.  They were relying on themselves to fix their problem.  They weren’t praying to God and asking Him to help them get out of the situation.  And actually in their case it wouldn’t even be just praying to God.  They had God right there on the boat with them.  They could have, at the first sign of trouble, asked Jesus to fix the situation.  Why didn’t they?

This is something we all know a lot about.  We do this all the time.  Or, at least I know I and many people I know do.  We know we have a problem and instead of turning to the one solution guaranteed to fix it, we try a million solutions on our own.  We try to rely on ourselves to get us out of the situation.  This is a message that God has been trying to get me to see for a long time now.  I have had my fair share of storms over the years.  I have prayed about these storms, and I have asked God to help, but I didn’t turn to Him to fix the situation as soon as the storm came.  First, I read a million books on the subject matter, I asked everyone that knew anything about anything, what they thought I should do, I came up with plan after plan to fix the situation on my own.  Does this sound familiar to anyone?  Have you ever had a storm in your life and instead of turning to God, you tried to solve it, or fix it on your own?  I know I can’t be the only one that has ever done this.  

This is probably what the disciples were doing on that boat.  They were probably looking to the fisherman they had with them, or anyone else that knew anything about boats.  They were probably all putting their heads together to come up with a plan to save the boat.  They were relying on their own knowledge and their own abilities.  Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;”  I wasn’t there, and I am only guessing but I don’t think that they would have thought what they were doing was a demonstration of little faith.  They could have had the best intentions.  Maybe they didn’t go to Jesus first because they knew He was tired and they didn’t want to bother Him.  I get that.  Jesus worked hard and I can see wanting to let Him rest and not bother Him unless you had too.  It makes sense in our minds. Maybe this is why God tells us not to rely on our own understanding.  

As I write this I am gaining a new understanding, which I assume is coming from the Holy Spirit.  Even though we may not go to God first because we have good intentions, it still shows Him a lack of faith.  Maybe not a lack of faith that we don’t think He can help us, but a lack of faith that He would want to help us.  Perhaps a lack of faith that we are important enough for Him to help.  Also it shows that we think God can’t do all things at the same time.  Our actions are telling God that we think He is too busy to help us.  

I was at a conference once and there was a priest speaking at the conference that was assigned to a college or university.  He mentioned he always said a rosary at the football games praying that his team would win.  He said they captured a photo of him one week saying the rosary and he got a lot of negative comments from people who saw the photo.  They said comments like, “a Catholic priest spending time praying about a football game when there are people dying of cancer.”  I remember he told us that they were upset that he was wasting God’s time over a silly football time when there were bigger, more important things that God should be spending His time on.  I remember he said, “My God is bigger than that.”  He explained the we shouldn’t feel bad about asking God for all of the things that we need because other people might be worse off than we are.  This priest said that our God can do all of things we are asking for as well as the things that others need too.  He is not limited by the same things that we are limited by.  Actually, He is not limited by anything.  

I remember coming home and writing a sticky note on my fridge that said, “My god is bigger than that.”  It reminds me that God should be the first place I turn to in times of trouble.  It reminds me that I don’t have to feel bad asking God to help me out of a problem because He may have other more important things to do.  This is not true.  God thinks I, and my problems are just as important as anyone else.  He can help us all.  He has no limitations.  He is the almighty one, creator of all things.  

The next time we are in a storm, we should go straight to God.  We don’t have to waste time trying to rely on our understanding or our own abilities.  He is there for us.  When the disciples woke Jesus up, He rebuked the winds and the sea and there was a dead calm.  If Jesus can do this to the winds and the sea, what do you think He can do to the storms in your life? I know it is hard, and I am right there with you, trying to solve my problems on my own.  Let's join together and make a decision to turn to God to calm the storms.  Let’s not save God for a last resort, let’s make him our first line of defense.  When we get in the habit of doing that, I bet we will see the storms calmed a lot quicker.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask that you bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, help us to trust in your more.  Help us to turn to you first instead of waiting until You are our last resort.  Lord, help us to believe that you can help everyone and that when we come to you we are not taking your time away from others.  Help us to see that you have infinite amounts of time for each and every one of us.  Help us to not rely on our own understanding.  Help us to see the bigger picture Lord.  We are so thankful for all that you do for us.  We are thankful that you are merciful and loving.  We love you Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen.