Matthew 8:27 The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”

I referenced this incident yesterday in contrast to the faith of the Roman centurion, but it’s certainly worth considering on its own. The point is, even Jesus’ disciples didn’t realize fully just Whom they were following. The Jews had a long history of prophets and teachers, and they were sure they had found a good one, but even those who thought He was the Messiah didn’t realize the Messiah was part of the Trinity, the Godhead, who thus wielded all authority in the universe. We tend to rank things in order of difficulty, but for the Creator it’s essentially all the same, whether it’s healing a cold or creating a galaxy. We really can’t wrap our minds around that. They had seen Jesus heal many diseases, probably ranging from the inconvenient to the debilitating to the potentially fatal, and all of them had yielded to Him. That was certainly impressive, but from the human perspective, the ability to command “the forces of nature” was in a different category. From God’s perspective, it was all tweaking His creation. The thing is, we don’t have God’s perspective on things, so we don’t know why He allows some things and not others. However, we shouldn’t let that interfere with our faith that He can change anything at all. Storms, earthquakes, and tsunami are part of the natural order, but our prayers can impact even those at times. I’ve personally known of multiple times when the course of a major storm was diverted in response to prayer, and we of course have no way of knowing when an earthquake or tsunami did not happen because of prayer. We aren’t to think that such things are at our beck and call, but we do need to remember that the Creator is Lord over His creation.

I well remember loving typhoons as a child, and still don’t mind them. I’ve been through a few minor earthquakes, and even been on the edge of a major one, but I’ve never experienced a tsunami personally. From the human perspective those are all destructive, but I have seen again and again God bring incredible blessing out of tragedy. Just yesterday I saw a brief video of a “TV physicist” explaining why he couldn’t believe in a loving, omnipotent God, but my response was that he was cutting himself off by demanding to understand God before he’d believe in Him. I must not make that mistake! By definition I don’t know everything that is going on, much less how it all fits together. Even supercomputers can’t calculate the sheer number of variables involved, because that number is literally infinite. I am to rest in the assurance that, as the chorus goes, “God’s got it all in control,” and the final outcome will be glorious, whatever happens along the way. His instructions to me to “rest, relax, rejoice,” are simple, but at times very difficult! I’ve got to keep growing in my own faith, trust, and obedience.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for all the little lessons You teach me day by day. May I continue to grow as You desire and intend, becoming the useful servant and loving child that You desire, for the blessing of those around me and for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!