Do Not Be Afraid

366 times God tells us in the Bible, “Do not be afraid.” 366 times. That’s pretty much a daily reminder from our Lord to not fear.

In the Gospel, we read about the storm that the disciples get stuck in at sea. They’re terrified, yet Jesus sleeps through the entire thing. When the disciples wake him up they ask him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” Jesus responds by calming the storm and replies, “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?”

This Gospel passage is such a beautiful example of learning to have faith in our Lord. The disciples were scared during the storm, even though Jesus told them to go out to sea to cross to the other side and he was with them, they still feared. How many times do we find ourselves in a bit of a storm? There are times when our lives feel all over the place, we’re lost and confused, not knowing where to go, and we fear. How many times do we feel like God isn’t listening to our cries for help in our prayers? We’re crying out to him, trying to receive an answer and nothing. It is in this silence that we learn to trust. We learn to trust that God WILL hear us. He WILL answer us. He WILL help us in our time of need.

In the Gospel passage, Jesus is asleep. This shows us that in the silence, when he seems to not be present, is when we need to trust and have faith even more. In our prayers, it’s ok to get frustrated if we feel like Jesus isn’t listening. This is still a prayer of faith because we’re still reaching out to our Lord and we’re trusting that He will hear and answer us. So call out to Jesus, awaken him, and trust and have faith that even in the silence he is with you, listening, and will answer you. And when you feel like you’re in a storm, remember, you have a daily reminder from God to not be afraid.