Devotion 3: Fear Or Faith

Zach Honnen

How do you sleep? This seems like a simple question, but for many of us, we might have different answers. Some are wrong (socks on, with the thermostat set to eighty) and some are right (A/C set to a good sixty-six, socks off, and on our side wrapped up like a burrito).

Now, the reason I bring this up is because we’re going to look at two different men. Each of them fell asleep in the midst of a storm, but each had different circumstances. Let’s jump to our text.

“Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, ‘Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.’ But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord. But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. So the captain came and said to him, ‘What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.’”Jonah 1:1–6

In the beginning of the book of Jonah, we see that God gives Jonah a task, and he runs away from it. Jonah tries to ignore the command of the Lord. So, what did he do? He ran, hid, and to ease his conscience, he slept.

He tried to ignore the sin he was committing by numbing his mind with sleep. I wonder how many of us sleep like this? We know that we are living in sin. We know that we are disobedient to God; yet, we try to run, hide, and sleep.

Now let’s look at a very different sleeper: “And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him, saying, ‘Save us, Lord; we are perishing.’ 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 8:23–26).

Now we see a similar scenario. Jesus is on a boat, a storm arises, and He is sleeping. But Jesus is not sleeping to numb His conscience or hide from sin. He is sleeping because He is at peace with God, knowing that all things are in His control. There is no fear. There is no guilt. There is no sin. There is only faith.

So, my question for us today is: Do we sleep in faith, or do we sleep in fear? To sleep in faith is to know that there is nothing we can do to ruin God’s plan. We know that there is a King, a God, a Warrior who is watching over us and controls all things, and His will is perfect. To sleep in faith is to understand what Jesus has done for us, and because of that, we rest in the peace of God.

However, if you find yourself sleeping in fear, fear of sin, fear of your history, fear of God’s wrath, I want to invite you to rest in the Gospel. Whether you are hearing if for the first time, or for the thousandth time, the Gospel is the answer for peace with God.

“Even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved…For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Ephesians 2:5, 8–9

To find peace in the storm, to sleep with faith, requires a relationship with the Peacemaker and the Giver of faith. Rest in Christ, and you’ll find peace in the storm. Choose faith instead of fear.