STANDING THOUGH FRAIL

THERE is a prayer in the Church of England Book of Common Prayer, in fact the collect for the fourth Sunday after Epiphany, which starts as follows - 'O God, who knowest us to be set in the midst of so many and great dangers, that by reason of the frailty of our nature we cannot always stand upright: ....'. This expresses so aptly the truth about us all as Christians. In the light of this how can we 'stand upright', live correctly and not make mistakes in our lives?

The whole Bible is concerned to give us light in this need, but there is particular help in Matthew chapter 8 beginning at verse 28.

This is the account of the disciples crossing the sea of Galilee when they were struck by a very violent storm. Such was the ferocity of the storm that the waves were breaking over the ship, the ship was filling up with water, and they were in danger of sinking. They were doing all they could, but the storm was defeating them.

This is a very vivid picture of the frailty of our nature in the midst of the storms of life. We can do all that we can, and yet it is too little. The storms of life are many and varied. For each they are different. The storms of life cover every part of our existence - the moral, the spiritual and the temporal. We make decisions, we come under influences, we listen to advice, courses of action are presented to us, temptations crowd upon us. How can we be sure that we will take the right road in life, and be able to weather the storms on the way.

In this incident, that thing that saved the disciples was that they had Jesus with them. Because he was with them, though the storm overwhelmed them, they had no need to fear, and they were safe. Jesus drives this fact home when he says to them, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid". Jesus then demonstrated to them why they had no need to fear, by stilling the storm.

If we have Jesus with us in life then we have one equal to all the storms life may bring, and more than equal. Jesus did not simply get them, after a struggle, safely to land. No he stilled the storm, so that immediately the wind dropped and the great rollers of the sea ceased. This was a demonstration of his mighty power as God and creator. Great storm waves take time for their motion to subside into calm. Jesus brought calm in a moment.

By this record the Bible instructs us that Jesus is equal to all the demands that life may place us in. The conditions may be different, and the way he deals with problems will vary, but his power is not in doubt and his pledge to keep is not in doubt either. The salvation he is pleased to give us in different situations will be governed by his wisdom and grace. They may be different to what we would like or expect, but they will not fail.

Thus to have Jesus with us, as he was in the boat with his disciples, is the key to weathering the storms of life.

How are we to be sure Jesus is with us and by our side?

Firstly we must be sure that we have claimed him as our Lord and Saviour, and that we are one of his 'saved' ones. In a word we must be true Christians by faith in Jesus.

But how then can we be sure of his presence and power. This incident in Matthew continues to be helpful. Verse 23 of chapter 8 says "Then Jesus got into the boat and his disciples followed him". The order is significant. We must not make decisions in life and then ask Jesus to be with us in them. Rather we must seek to follow Jesus in his decisions for us.

Having said this it is no easy matter to know what the will of Jesus is, nor is it always easy to follow it when we do know. What is certain is that Jesus will not allow us to stray if honestly in our hearts we really want to follow him in the way he wants us to go. Then he will graciously work so that we will not go before him, but follow where he leads.

The next thing this incident reminds us of is that we must not lose faith. No doubt the disciples felt Jesus was careless of them and their situation because he was asleep, or that he was unaware of the problem. This was not so. Jesus was well aware of their need, and continued to keep them in his care even though asleep.

This is always true. We may feel that Jesus has forgotten us, or is far from us. We may feel alone, with the sense of his presence lost. The fact is Jesus still cares and has our lives in his care. We need to continue to believe this even in spite of our feelings or the events all around us. How ever bad things may seem still we have no need to fear.

The other important thing for us to remember is that Jesus is only a prayer away. The disciples seemed to have sought to solve their problem themselves. They did not go to Jesus immediately, but seemed to have tried everything before they came to Jesus. In fact prayer is always the first and the best action in any problem. Jesus answers prayer even as he answered the disciples prayer. Nor will Jesus withhold his response because of our unbelief and doubting. He did not do so here, and he will not do so with us.

Perhaps the disciples waited to seek the help of Jesus because they wondered whether he would resent being woken up. It is the devil who deceives us into thinking that the time is inopportune for prayer, or that Jesus will resent our coming to him, or that we ought to have done everything possible ourselves before we pray to Jesus.

We need to do all we can, but this does not mean we can't go to Jesus first, or that he will not engage to deliver us until we have exhausted our resources. The fact is that Jesus is always the Saviour, but often works through us, enhances our abilities and resources as is necessary.

We have frail natures. It is no part of the Christian life to deny this or pretend otherwise. We can not stand alone. Apart from our frailty we have the devil and the world to contend with. If we are to be strong we can only be strong in the Lord and the power of his might.