Where Is Your Faith?

I have to be totally honest, sometimes it's hard for me to read the Gospels.  Sometimes when I read in them I knock my tongue at the top of my mouth, which creates a clicking noise, and I kinda move my head back and forth as if to say, "Is there anything new here...I guess not."  Other times when I read it's like, "Oh where did that happen?" and I'll look for it on a map or do a little looking into the place that the story took place.  And though it's bad that I do all of this, you really can't blame me, I have heard and/or read all of the stories in them about a million times.  I know that's no excuse, but I want something new, something exciting.  I want to make that big theological/historical/significant discovery that makes everything make sense to everyone and changes the world.  I have high ambitions, I know, and I guess I'm a bit self-centered or self-absorbed, but I just love diving into the Word.  So when I sat down to do my Quiet Time, I honestly didn't think I would get much out of a couple of the chapters I was going to read, mainly the passages from Leviticus, and Luke (which is why I read from several different books of the Bible in my devotions time).  When I finally got to my Luke passage though, it didn't seem like anything different.  I wasn't clicking or moving my head back and forth, but I wasn't as engaged as I was reading about the ark being taken away by the Philistines or my Proverb of the day, which made me chuckle a little.  Like I've said, I've heard and/or read all of these stories a million times.  Anyways, I was reading Luke 8, which has a lot of stories I've heard before: the women minister to Jesus, the parable of the sower and its purpose, the purpose of parables in general, the parable of the revealed light, Jesus' mother and brothers come, the wind and waves obeying Jesus, the man with the demon Legion in him, and the story of Jairus' daughter and the women with the bleeding healed.  All of which are pretty popular stories, but one in particular spoke to me today.  The funny thing is, it's probably the most popular, or at least in the top three most popular, pericope in this chapter.  I'm talking about the story of Jesus calming the wind and waves.

Most of the time I read this story and think "Oh disciples, how stupid are you really?  Jesus, the Messiah, God Incarnate was in the boat with you!  He's done all of these other things for you and in front of you for others and He's always provided and you think now you're going to die.  You really think this was the plan God had for Jesus and would let you die like this?"  And as I was going along, starting to have these thoughts cross into my head once again, I get to verse 25 when Jesus says, "Where is your faith?"  And things changed a little.  I didn't read it as "Where, Oh ye disciples, is you your faith?"  Instead I read, "Where, Lisa, is your faith?  Where is your faith when the storm's around you?  Because I'm still with you.  I haven't left the boat of your life.  Yeah, I know it's rough and the waves are dragging you under, but where is your faith?"  This story looks completely different when I realize I am the disciples in this story.  I often cry out, "Lord, I'm perishing...  Look how frail I am.  I haven't gotten much sleep lately, I haven't eaten well lately either, I have a test coming up and projects all over the place, and if I do one more thing, Lord, I'm going to die.  Please don't let me drown."  Now, I hear Him saying to me, "Lisa, where is your faith?"  And I should have faith; I know how the story ends, I've heard this story a million times, His disciples, they didn't know how the story would end.  So now, I'll turn this around and ask you: Where is your faith when life gets rough?  I hope it's in Christ.