Fishing Boat

“Suddenly, a violent storm arose on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves. But He was sleeping.” (Matthew 8:24)

On the southwest shore of the Sea of Galilee is a museum. Its sole purpose is to house one item for public viewing – a 1st century fishing boat.

During a significant drought in Israel when the waters of the lake drastically receded, fishermen found a small portion of a wood boat protruding from the mud. Archeologists were called in and eventually recovered almost a full hull of a 1st century boat preserved by the mud.

When visiting this museum and viewing this boat, your mind can imagine it once sailing the Sea of Galilee proudly on fishing forays. A Christian’s mind can wonder if this might be a boat that carried our Lord back and forth across the lake. The possibility is there at least. And a sanctified imagination might then take the mind to this story of the storm at sea and ultimately to what Jesus asked His disciples, “Where is your faith?”

A “storm” might arise suddenly in life and begin to swamp your boat, and it is almost automatic that when that happens our attention gets riveted to the storm, to “storm management,” to survival. Fear can push everything to one side, including faith.

When storms come (not if), it is very important that we remember to go straight to our “faith place.” We must disciple ourselves to remember that the Sovereign God is going to fulfill His purposes. No storm can stop that. That is part of Jesus’ intent in asking His disciples that question. We can trust God to achieve His sovereign purposes.

Look beyond the storm.

Lord, We recognize it’s easy to tell ourselves to look beyond the storm but a different thing to actually do it. Still, we recognize we need to always go to our “faith place” when storms arise. May Your commitment to fulfill Your purposes always enable us to rest before You with peaceful hearts. Amen.