Every time I see an airplane fly I am filled with wonder. Especially during the takeoff I feel compelled to watch! I know the science and understand the airfoil shape of the wings and that the aircraft will start to fly when enough air is flowing past. My own flight log shows that well over 1500 times I have been at the controls of a plane as it transitioned to flight and I watched the ground fall away and knew there was nothing holding it in the air except air! Though it has happened so many times I am still filled with wonder at the power of something so amazing that cannot be seen.
There are other wonders. I wonder how people could be so unaware of the power of God around them. The disciples had watched as Jesus healed a man of leprosy (Mt. 8:3). Then they went to Peter’s own house where his wife’s mother was sick with a fever and the Lord healed her (Mt. 8:15). Then hoards of people came to Jesus while over and over the disciples saw the miraculous powers of the Lord Jesus command away the infirmities of life (Mt. 8:16). But they still lacked faith?
I wonder what they were daily thinking about this man they were traveling with? Did they really hear the words He spoke? Did they really see those demonstrations of unimaginable power over life and death and over the physical world? One has to wonder because their test of faith was a failure.
It happened like this. They all got into a boat on the sea of Galilee. Jesus fell asleep quickly as the wind and waves picked up. But then while Jesus was sound asleep, the disciples were beside themselves with fear. Finally they awaken the sleeping Lord, fearful for their very lives (Mt. 8:23-25).
Like air, the actual power of the Lord was not visible to their eyes, but the evidence had certainly been there. Over and over again those disciples saw the power of Jesus heal, cast out demons and raise the dead. So, we wonder, how could they have seen so much and understood so little? Did they really think that such a man as Jesus could drown in a lake? Perhaps they were only thinking with the worldly mind with which they were born and not with the mind of faith that was being created in them by God’s Son.
How do we see Jesus? How do we live our lives? We wonder how the disciples could have been so unaware, so lacking in faith. Perhaps the words the Lord spoke to them are just as relevant to ourselves, “Why are you afraid? Oh you of little faith?” (Mt. 8:26).
-Tim Orbison
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