And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. (Matthew 8:26)

The winds were howling, the waters were roaring, and the disciples thought that the little ship must surely be engulfed in the raging sea, so they aroused their Master from his much needed sleep and cried, “Lord, save us: we perish.”

Being aroused because their was danger, he dealt first with the chief cause of danger; what was that? Not the winds or the waves, but the disciples’ unbelief.

There is always more peril, to a Christian, in his own unbelief than in the most adverse circumstances by which he may be surrounded.

I think I may venture to say—though with the Omnipotent all things are possible—that it is an easier task for Christ to calm the winds and the waves than to still the tumult raised by doubt in his disciples’ minds; he could more swiftly cause a calm to fall upon the the stormy surface of the Galilean lake than upon the perturbed spirits of his terrified apostles.

The mental always excels the physical; the ruling of hearts is a greater thing than the governing of winds and waves. So when we have to battle with trouble, let us always begin with ourselves—our own fears, mistrusts, suspicions, selfishness, and self-will—for the chief danger lies there.

All the trouble in the workdf cannot harm you so much as half a grain of unbelief. He who is, by the grace of God, enabled to master his own soul need not doubt that he shall also be master of everything that opposes him.[1]

Charles Spurgeon

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End notes:

[1] Charles Spurgeon, At the Master’s Feet [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005], March 14.

See also:

TURNING LOVE BACKWARD TO SELF

THE gOD OF GLENN BECK

WOMEN PASTORS, PRISCILLA SHIRER, AND THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION