Hope for the Best

This past Sunday I preached on the following passage:

Matthew 8:23-27, Then Jesus got into the boat and started across the lake with his disciples. Suddenly, a fierce storm struck the lake, with waves breaking into the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him up, shouting, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!” Jesus responded, “Why are you afraid? You have so little faith!” Then he got up and rebuked the wind and waves, and suddenly there was a great calm.The disciples were amazed. “Who is this man?” they asked. “Even the winds and waves obey him!” NLT

One of the many things we can take from this passage is this: Most of the things we fear will never happen. Our text tells us the reason the disciples were so afraid. They thought for sure they were going to drown. But did that happen? No! They didn’t drown - they were delivered. Let me ask you: When you’re in a storm, is your first response “I’m going to drown!” or “I’m going to be delivered!” 

Kristin and I are expecting our third child any day now. And just a couple weeks ago the midwife told my wife our baby might be breach, which is medical terminology for upside down. For those of you who don’t know, a baby can’t come out feet first - a baby has to come head first, otherwise they can’t get out without breaking bones. So this was a pretty serious concern. Now the midwife didn’t tell Kristin our baby was breach, just that he might be. Knowing that most of the things we fear don’t ever happen, I told Kristin: Let’s wait and see what the ultrasound reveals before we jump to any conclusions. I’m so glad we didn’t lose our peace over this, because as it turns out, the baby was not breach after all. 

When you're in a storm, do you respond in faith or fear? Fear makes us default to the negative, but faith makes us default to the positive. Since we often have no idea how things will actually turn out, why not hope for the best instead of assuming the worst. After all, most of the things we fear will never happen.