Expecting Bigger Things

Usually when I read through the stories of Jesus' life I am amazed at how dense the disciples were.  I tend to think that they had a serious advantage over us today because they actually stood in Jesus' presence and saw first hand the miracles he performed.  How then were they still so clueless about who he was?  I'm humbled to realize that I do the same thing even today.  How often do I witness for myself the enormity of Jesus and still don't fully comprehend who he is?

This morning I'm reading in Matthew of the time Jesus calmed the storm.  The story is found in Matthew 8:23-27.

"Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him.  Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat.  But Jesus was sleeping.  The disciples went and woke him, saying, 'Lord save us!  We're going to drown!'  
He replied, 'You of little faith, why are you so afraid?'  Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.  
The men were amazed and asked, 'What kind of man is this?  Even the winds and the waves obey him!'"


One thing I love about this passage is that when the disciples thought they were perishing, they turned to the one person who really could save them.  At least they got that part right!  Surely they must have known that Jesus wasn't just a regular guy.  There was something different about him, and even though they didn't quite understand what it was, they knew that they could trust him with their very lives.  

Clearly the disciples were terrified during this storm, but when they woke Jesus asking him to save them, I wonder what it was they expected him to do.  They were surprised when he actually did calm the storm, so what was it they had anticipated from Jesus?  They had witnessed plenty of miraculous healings and exorcisms, so why was this scenario different?  I think perhaps it was because everything they had seen dealt only with the people whom Jesus was healing, not forces of nature.  So when Jesus rebukes the wind and waves the disciples got a glimpse of how big God really is.  They asked Jesus to save them from the storm, but I doubt they expected Jesus to get rid of the storm altogether!

Does God ever do this in your life?  You ask him for something seemingly small and he shows you something much greater?  What kinds of things do you ask of God?  How does he show up in your life?  Are you ever surprised at how God works?   I realize that whenever I ask God for something, He's always bigger than how I usually expect him to show himself.  If we all understood the enormity of God, would we ever be surprised at the way he works in our lives?  I doubt it!  Maybe one thing we can learn from this passage is that we can expect big things from God, because he is always faithful to show up in big ways (even if it's in ways we don't anticipate.)