Luke 8:22-25 The Wind and the Waves Obey Him
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: August 5, 2018 Luke 8:22-25
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they set out, and as they sailed he fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger. And they went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm. He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?”
(Understanding the Text) These verses make it sound as if the disciples had no idea about the plans ahead of time and that this was a usual occurrence. It seems like they were never sure from one day to the next if they would stay or go and in which direction that they would go. God does that with our lives a lot. He does not usually give us foreknowledge about where we will be in ten years or a year or even a month or a week. Partially, this is because we would not be capable of comprehending the significance of the information, but I think it may be partially so that we will learn to live by faith in Him which is the only way we will be able to survive eternity. I think there may also be a component of being able to move us around as needed to counteract Satan’s moves also.
The SDA commentary says that this most likely happened during the second missionary journey in early fall of A.D. 29. The other side of the lake was “the region of Decapolis, opposite Galilee (see p. 46). To the southeast of the Lake of Galilee.” It was “rather sparsely populated. That region was largely heathen; there is no record of the scribes and Pharisees ever having followed Jesus there.”
(Revelation of God) Jesus must have been exhausted. Maybe that was why He was having them leave. His only chance to rest away from the crowds might be out on the lake. Maybe, He knew that His body had reached its limits and chose this way to give it rest. The SDA commentary points out that this is the only recorded incident of Jesus sleeping. In fact, this may explain the storm. Maybe, Satan was trying to push Jesus’ limits and not giving Jesus rest would be part of that. However, Jesus was not fearful of storms and was not woken by the water splashing in or the wind or the rocking of the boat or the shouts of the disciples. He only woke when the disciples came to Him and woke Him up.
(Understanding the Text) Mark gives more details about this trip. According to the SDA commentary, Jesus had been preaching from the boat earlier. At dusk, rather than leaving the boat, Jesus told the disciples to set sail for the other side. There were several other fishing boats that traveled alongside them as they left.
I imagine the disciples looking at Jesus’ tired face as He boarded the boat and told them to set sail for the other side of the lake. They were probably happy to get away from the crowds and out onto the sea that they loved and where they had spent so many happy times. They may have sang as they sailed away from shore into the middle of the lake. There was no warning gathering of clouds or lightening and thunder. Instead, with a mighty roar a wind attacked the little boat. It started farther up in the gorges between the mountains to the east of the sea and swept down onto the lake gathering waves as it came. (SDA commentary). By the time it reached them, the waves were higher than the boat and rushed over it swamping it. The disciples held on tight wherever they could as they saw the waves approaching. They frantically bailed water out, but it was pointless with more waves crashing up against the side of the boat. There was no hope, and they turned to their Master in despair only then realizing that He was not standing with them.
The Desire of Ages adds details noted in the SDA commentary. “The disciples called to Jesus twice in the darkness, only to have their voices drowned out by the noise of the storm. Then a sudden flash of lightning disclosed to them the fact that Jesus was still asleep.” They rushed over to where He was still sleeping on one of the few dry spots left in the ship. Their fear mounted as more waves crashed against the ship. One of the disciples, probably Peter, reached over and grabbed Jesus shaking Him and shouting that He should wake up because they were all going to die and Jesus didn’t even care. Jesus opened His eyes, heard their words, saw the terror on their faces, and felt the fierce storm attacking the boat. He quickly comprehended the storm, but worried about the terror that they felt upon facing possible death. Their faith in future resurrection had been trumped by fear of death. Jesus stood and first dealt with the storm commanding it to be quiet. Then, He turned to the disciples and scolded them for their fear of dying and lack of trust in their Father. The disciples heard the sudden silence and felt the boat stop rocking violently. They heard the water draining off the sides of the boat and were stunned. Jesus had just calmly stopped the wind and waves, two forces that they had learned to respect since they were toddlers. People could be changed but not the wind and waves, yet Jesus had done it as if He were telling a child to calm down. The very normalcy of the manner in which Jesus had calmed the storm made them realize that He was much more powerful than anything that they had imagined as they watched Him heal the sick and cast out demons.
(Revelation of God) Unconsciously, the disciples had placed limits upon Jesus’ power. They had only seen Him heal broken bodies and spirits and cast out demons, so they had unthinkingly assumed that His power was limited to this arena. Suddenly, the disciples were faced with the knowledge that Jesus’ power was unlimited. The wind and the waves were forces of nature that no one could change, yet Jesus had just done so without fanfare or effort. Jesus’ very calm assurance of His power as being normal filled them with awe.
(Application) Jesus said that He only worked through the Father’s power. The signs and wonders that Jesus performed were through the Holy Spirit who now dwells in each Christian. In other words, we have access to the same power that Jesus had. He only used that power as needed for others. I think this may be where we are limited. We are too selfish to be able to use the power that the Spirit gives us. I’ll have to think on this some more.
(Prayer) Please help me to be open to the Spirit’s leading. It’s not that I want to perform great signs and wonders. It’s that I want to know You and to serve You well. I want to have faith in Your unlimited power in all areas of life. I want to trust that You will do what You have said You will do. Give me faith and teach me not to limit Your working in my life.