The fear of the Lord is both awesome and awful—because it recognizes God has unparalleled power over both creation and destruction. This fear isn’t mere terror but an uttermost respect for God’s omnipotence and justice. It acknowledges that God can destroy, as seen in his judgment of sin, yet also creates and sustains life, offering us mercy, grace, and love. God’s promises to us through Jesus assure us victory over sin, death, and hell. He wields power to condemn but chooses to redeem, and provides eternal life—which we recall is a restoration of creation according to God’s good design, not simply living forever. This duality makes the fear of the Lord complex; it’s a recognition of God’s righteous wrath and his merciful love. And so, fearing the Lord is appropriate because it aligns with our understanding of his holiness. It’s a fear that deepens our reverence and ensures our love for God is rooted in acknowledging his supreme authority and grace.
Let us pray. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer.
A man had a daughter who loved her pets. She had a cat for twelve years, a loyal companion named Truffle. Unfortunately, Truffle developed a severe kidney problem. When the vet delivered the grim prognosis, the man’s daughter stayed by Truffle’s side, holding her close as she was gently put to sleep. They cremated Truffle and buried her in the yard, marking the spot with a flat stone.
Around the same time, the daughter experienced another heartbreak: an abrupt separation from the man whom she thought she might end up marrying. Living back at home, she found herself enveloped in sadness. Seeking a way to bring some light back into her life, she and her father talked about getting another pet. They searched online for rescue dogs, many of which were located at the other end of the country. The daughter’s only criterion was simple: a puppy that looked like it was smiling.
After some searching, they found a shepherd mix with a perpetual grin and arranged to pick up the puppy. The daughter named him Sparky. They recorded the memory of that day with pictures that capture both the daughter and Sparky looking utterly joyful. For two blissful days, they were inseparable.
Then, Sparky got sick. Each morning before work, the man checked on Sparky in his cage, and on the third day, he had to cry. Despite his sickness, Sparky tried to snuggle, still smiling even as he threw up. They took Sparky to the vet, who diagnosed him with Parvo, a highly contagious viral disease in dogs that causes severe gastrointestinal distress and often leads to death by dehydration. It was shocking, as Sparky had been vaccinated. They eventually learned that the kennel hadn’t given the vaccine correctly.
Sparky was hospitalized, and the man’s daughter spent every spare moment with him, watching as he slowly wasted away over the next two days, yet still managed to smile. The man struggled to understand why this once-abandoned, now-rescued puppy had to suffer so much due to human neglect. The fleeting joy Sparky brought seemed cruelly snatched away. He felt angry at God for allowing this injustice to happen—both to his daughter and especially to this innocent puppy.
For the man, this period was particularly challenging for other reasons as well. They were placing his mother in assisted living, despite his brother’s protests, and he had received a particularly nasty letter from someone he worked with closely. With so many heavy burdens to bear, losing the brief joy Sparky brought into the home was especially hard. The man was angry with God given all the storms raging about him in life. That anger, surely, was motivated out of some level of fear—fear about his daughter, his mother, his brother, and even his sense of God’s justice in allowing a cute, sweet puppy to suffer so. The man was caught in a storm of fear and anger raging on around him. Didn’t God care?
In today’s story from the gospel, we have a real storm that serves as a good picture of the various difficult situations we face in life. The disciples were so scared and felt abandoned that they cried out to Jesus, saying, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” This moment truly captures how we feel during crises when it seems like God is silent or inert. We might feel isolated, despairing, or even angry—because anger often comes from fear. We might think, “How dare Jesus sleep when we’re struggling on the stormy seas of life?!
But then, something wonderful happens. Jesus wakes up when they cry out to him. His response is immediate and full of authority. “Peace!” He commands. “Be still!” And just like that, the storm calms down. This shows us several important things about Jesus and his relationship with us. His ability to control the storm shows his power and reassures us that no situation is beyond his control. Even when it seems like he’s not paying attention, Jesus is right there with the disciples through the storm. His presence, even when he seems inactive, shows that God is always with us, even when it feels like he isn’t. Even when we’re afraid God isn’t there. Or angry that he doesn’t seem to care.
Anger and fear, primal and potent, surge through us in ways that can seem overwhelming. These emotions, though, serve a purpose, anchoring our survival. Anger, often dismissed as destructive, spurs us into action. It fuels our defense, sparks our will to fight injustice, and demands change. Fear, on the other hand, sharpens our senses. It heightens our awareness of danger, pushing us to protect ourselves and those we love. These emotions, raw and unfiltered, keep us alive.
So why did God weave these intense feelings into our very fabric, alongside joy, contentment, and surprise? Anger and fear are not mistakes but tools. They compel us to confront threats and injustices. They urge us to improve, to adapt, and to survive. Without them, complacency would stifle us, and dangers would go unheeded. God, in his wisdom, gave us these feelings to navigate a world fraught with challenges, to sail into the vale of the raging sea of life.
Yet, there are times when our anger turns toward God. We fear he has abandoned us, or worse, that he doesn’t care. These moments can shake our relationship with him to its core. But even in these times, our emotions are valid. They reveal our deepest struggles and vulnerabilities. What’s crucial is not to suppress these feelings but to explore them. We must examine our hearts and our relationship with God. Why do we feel this way? What does it say about our trust in God?
In confronting our anger and fear, we find a path to deeper understanding. These emotions, far from being burdensome, lead to greater trust and resilience. They prompt us to seek God earnestly, to question, to learn, and ultimately, to grow.
And so after calming the storm, Jesus asks the disciples, “Why are you afraid?” And then ups the ante by asking, “Have you still no faith?” This question helps us shift our focus from fear to trust, from anger to understanding. It teaches us that trusting in Jesus’ presence and power can help us overcome our fears, even in the scariest times.
Consider another moment in Jesus’ life—his very last moment. On the cross, Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Here we learn that Jesus himself experienced a deep feeling of abandonment. It’s very important for us to remember this because it means that feeling forsaken is something Jesus understands completely. He knows what it’s like to feel separated from God, just like we do sometimes.
But remember, God is always faithful. The psalm we read today tells of sailors caught in a terrible storm. Their lives were in danger, but they cried out to the Lord, and he “made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed.” The psalmist reminds us of God’s past actions in calming both real and metaphorical storms, helping us trust that he is present and aids us in our lives. Just like the disciples, the sailors cried out in desperation. God’s response shows his readiness to save and bring peace, reaffirming his concern for our suffering.
So, what does this mean for us today? Jesus’ story brings us great comfort. In the midst of our own troubles, our own storms, God is there. Knowing that Jesus himself felt abandoned helps us understand that our feelings of isolation aren’t unique or wrong. They’re part of being human, something even the Son of God experienced. When Jesus commands the storm, “Peace! Be still!” it shows his power to calm our chaotic lives. This divine help is not just for physical storms but for emotional, spiritual, and relational troubles as well. It helps us make sense of our struggles. We are encouraged to shift our focus from the fear of the storm to reliance on Jesus’ presence and his power.
But what is this faith, especially in the midst of feeling abandoned or angry with God? Especially in the midst of the stormy seas of life, when we feel imperiled? The very fact that we cry out to God, the very fact that we believe God should care, is a testament to our trust in him and the strength of our relationship with him. If we didn’t feel he was truly there or truly cared, we would not cry out or feel abandoned or angry. Yet we do—precisely because we trust in the relationship God has with us and the love he promises us nothing will ever take away from us.
In the midst of the various storms raging around him with daughter, mother, brother, coworker, and the sick puppy, the man ended up finding comfort in remembering God was with him, much like a friend who never leaves our side, even when things get tough. Remembering this truth was a comforting anchor for him. He rediscovered peace, not by ignoring his struggles, but by feeling God’s presence within them. When his daughter finally brought home another rescue dog—a puppy with a half smile—there was again joy. His mother spent four peaceful years in assisted living before passing away. The man learned that, just as Jesus calmed the storm, God brings peace to our lives, helping us with our anger and fear. This special kind of peace, rooted in a close relationship with God and his promises, reminds us that we’re never alone, even when the seas of life are rough. Through it all, the man’s trust in his relationship with God grew stronger because he took hold of the knowledge of God’s constant presence.
Even when it seems like God is silent or absent, he is always present. Jesus’ presence during the storm and his actions afterward show that God never abandons his people, never abandons us, even in the darkest hours, amid the fiercest storms, or on the most tumultuous seas. When we turn to Jesus and recall God’s past faithfulness, we can navigate life’s storms, even on the most perilous of raging seas, with a renewed peace and confidence in God’s loving, powerful care.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Rev'd Daniel W. Spigelmyer, Jr. 