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. And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”

Matthew 8:23-27

I love to think that I can help God do His job.

I love to take note of my changing surroundings and circumstances and quickly categorize the change as a disruption from the Enemy. I love to roll up my sleeves and play my self-declared part as God’s assistant director, reminding him of what happened in last week’s episode and making suggestions for what we should include in this week’s show.

Here’s the thing: God doesn’t need me to remind Him of anything.

I need to remind myself of who God is. 

I need to remind myself that when I take on the role of assistant director, a role I’m not meant to play, I get hurt; and I hurt others.

This mindset is not cute. It is sinful. It is my denial of the unchanging character of my God. It my purposeful ignorance of the reality that God knows my heart better than I do. And while I think I look like an assistant director, I play the fool – for He cannot be mocked.

This distrust of God’s character manifests in many forms of disobedience. When I am impatient with God’s timing, I make a reactionary decision that delays maturity and growth. When I idolize comfort and avoid challenge, I resist His pleasing and perfect will for my life. I run from the God-given opportunity to stretch my faith and to allow Him to purify my source of peace and identity; that they may be found not in my physical surroundings, not in sinful thoughts and habits, but in His love.

Again, God wants us to remember who He is, and who He is not. For our heavenly Father doesn’t just hear our prayers.

He hears the motives in our hearts behind our prayers. 

Today, I challenge you to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal your motive for your prayers.Are you pleading for His intervention from a place of faith or fear?

Are we genuinely seeking God to answer our prayers to confirm who He is? Or do we already know who He is – but we’re too afraid to trust Him?

In the passage above, it is not fully clear which boat the disciples were in.

In a sense, they seem to not have a full grasp on Jesus’ identity.  They wallowed in uncontrollable fear for their lives to the point of taking action – they woke up the Savior. Then, they asked themselves, “Who is this man?” as He displayed His mighty power.

But Jesus wasn’t pleased.

While they may still have been trailing along in the eye-opening process of truly seeing Jesus with unseen eyes,

He calls them higher – for Jesus is never pleased with a lack of faith.

Jesus wants them – and us – to fully grasp who He is, once and for all. If they had known who He was, they wouldn’t have woken Him up.

They would have laid down next to Him…

…and fallen asleep, too.