Shiloh’s Scepter

In many ways the Sea of Galilee is like life. Although tranquil waters are the norm as we journey along year after year, inevitably, we will encounter turbulent storms. Troubles and tribulations rear their ugly heads without warning and challenge us to show our true colors. In response, we can walk by sight and live a life filled with fear, or we can exercise our faith and live a life of victory and peace. The time had come for the disciples to call upon their developing faith to see them through the storm. Instead, in their humanity, they were overwhelmed by the moment. Without doubt, a crisis reveals a lot about us.

Often a crisis is only imagined and can actually be humorous on hindsight. My older brother enjoys telling about an experience he had as a young man while going flounder gigging near Bay City, Texas. Billy and several of his friends met at a boat ramp on the Intercoastal Canal one afternoon. Always good-natured, he volunteered to take the little boat and get a head start down the federal waterway to the inland bay where they would spend the night wading the shallows in search of the delicious flat fish. The others were waiting for a late arrival before following later in a larger boat. On the way to the bay, Billy ran out of gas, but was not overly concerned because the others would be coming soon with extra gasoline. However, when they could not get their outboard motor started, they went home leaving my brother to fend for himself. (Too bad cell phones had not been invented).

As night fell Billy paddled into a shallow tributary and beached the flat-bottomed boat on dry ground. Afraid of rattlesnakes, he hunkered down in the small craft as swarms of mosquitoes made life absolutely miserable. In his severely cramped position, time passed slowly as he drifted in and out of tortured sleep. Just when it seemed things could not get any worse, he gradually became aware of a very large creature breathing heavily on his neck and making strange, unearthly sounds.

What would your natural response have been? As brothers, we spent our early years in East Texas where grownups delighted in scaring children with frightening tales of the nighttime. As I recollect, one of their main goals in life was to instill in kids a fear of the dark. I’m sure this preconditioned reflex exhibited itself as Billy earnestly prayed he would wake up and discover he was just having a bad dream. On the other hand, maybe this was one of those childhood monsters come back from his childhood to rip him apart and scatter his mangled body over the coastal prairie.

Finally his frayed nerves could stand it no longer, With all rational thought gone, he jumped up violently waving his arms and yelling as loud as he could. Daring to face his enemy for the first time, he could see the backends of a herd of frightened, white Brahma cattle silhouetted against the dark skyline running away at breakneck speed. Calming down, Billy realized one of the more inquisitive cows had been noisily sniffing him in an attempt to identify the intruder trespassing on its domain. Although Billy laughs when he tells the story now, the episode was not the least bit funny when it happened. Fortunately, most of our moments of impending doom are not as bad as they seem at the time.

Needless to say, legitimate reasons exist for being afraid. Many monsters are out there waiting in the darkness to confront us when we are the least prepared. Large numbers of innocent people have lost their life-savings in recent months to unscrupulous financiers. According to the news, the sinister disease of cancer will soon replace heart attacks as the number one cause of death. Whether your crisis is money, health, or some other dreadful calamity, the clarion call comes over and over from the Lord, Fear not, be not afraid, be of good cheer, take courage. As Christians, we must not give in to our natural instincts inasmuch as God intends for us to be victorious in all things—even in the face of our most horrific nightmares. In any crisis, real or perceived, our greatest challenge is to refuse to succumb to fear.

We read in scripture that God can do all things. We theoretically believe He will take care of us. We know all things work together for good. Nevertheless, in spite of all our knowledge and beliefs, we often allow fear to overwhelm our faith. In Matthew’s account of our story, Jesus reprimanded the disciples for their little faith. Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith (Matt. 8:26)? When the moment of crisis presented itself, these men did not exercise the little faith they had.

Based on personal experience, faith does not act like a thermostat, which automatically starts the air conditioner when the temperature in your house becomes too warm. Instead of spontaneously turning on when needed, faith has a manual control that must be purposefully activated. Even though faith allows one to move mountains, it is worthless unless put into action! Don’t wait for a divine thermostat to initiate your faith. You must know where the switch is, and be willing and able to use it. When you have a monster breathing down your neck, hopefully you have prepared yourself by becoming familiar with God’s instruction manual.