Crossing To The Other Side

-April 3, 2024-

Good morning beloved, happy Wednesday,

“Now it happened, on a certain day, that He got into a boat with His disciples. He said to them, ‘Let us cross over to the other side of the lake.’ So they launched out.”

(Luke 8:22).

Today’s text describes the only time we know of that Jesus fell asleep while with His disciples. He was likely exhausted from His hectic ministry schedule. It pulls the curtain back so we can see the humanity of Jesus. He was perfect God and perfect man.

This passage in Luke 8:22-25 shows Jesus’ power over nature in a powerful way. This is one of His miracles on water. It is also found in Matthew 8:23-27 and Mark 4:36-41. It is always good to read them all. This incident happened on a certain day or as Matthew says, “the same day.”

Jesus gave the command with a promise, “Let us cross over to the other side of the lake.” It was God’s will for them. This demonstrates that trials, difficulties, hardships, challenges, and obstacles do happen when we are doing God’s will and God’s work.

A huge windstorm struck the Sea of Galilee with such force that the winds blew and the sea raged violently. Soon the boat began filling with water and was about to sink. It says in verse 23 that they were in jeopardy or danger. They immediately woke Jesus up and sought His help. Verse 24 says, “And they came to Him and awoke Him, saying, ‘Master, Master, we are perishing!’ Mark records, “Teacher, do you not care we are perishing” (Mark 4:38b)!

Jesus does care, He has everything under control. He rebukes the wind and the raging water, and all becomes calm. After rebuking nature, He rebukes the disciples for their lack of faith. They learned a valuable lesson on faith in the storm. We need to learn it too. The Lord had told them to cross the lake to the other side, and they did. At first it didn’t look good.

As believers today we claim God’s promise to be with always, even to the end of the age. He is our Captain and He will take us through the storms of life. We just need faith to believe and trust Him for the outcome. It is hard in the storm, but if we take our eyes off the wind and waves and put them onto Jesus, we will get to the other side with peace.

And one day we will cross over from earth to heaven and arrive on the heavenly shore. I can’t wait to enter heaven’s gate. Have blessed day in the storm. Stay safe and healthy.

We shouldn’t fear when Jesus is near.

Dean