Daily Devotional
"And they went and woke him, saying, ‘Save us, Lord; we are perishing.’"
Matthew 8:25
In Greek the disciples’ cry is compressed into just a few words: Lord, save, we are perishing. This is not a prayer composed in advance. It is the prayer you scream. They do not even specify what they want to be saved from. The verb “perishing” is in the present tense; they believe it is already happening. We are going down right now.
Remember who is shouting. At least four of these men, Peter, Andrew, James, and John, were professional fishermen who had worked this lake their whole lives. When men like that are terrified, the storm is real. And when every skill they possessed as sailors ran out, they turned to a carpenter from Nazareth. That is remarkable. They had seen enough of Jesus to know that when your options are gone, you go to him.
Their prayer is a mixture. “Lord” is a confession of who he is. “Save” is an expression of hope. “We are perishing” is despair. Faith and fear are tangled together in a single breath. Many of us know that kind of prayer, the kind that sounds more like the father in Mark 9:24: “I believe; help my unbelief!” Matthew does not clean this prayer up, and neither does Jesus refuse it. Notice too that Matthew’s wording is the language of the Church’s worship. The cry “Lord, save” is the cry of every sinner who has ever come to Christ. It is not an eloquent prayer, but it is a true one, and it is addressed to the right person.
Today's Challenge
When your own resources run out, where do you turn first? What would it look like to turn to Christ sooner rather than as a last resort? Are you holding back from praying because your faith feels mixed with fear? What would it mean to bring him the honest, unpolished prayer you actually have?
Prayer
Lord, sometimes the only prayer I have is a cry. I do not always know what to ask for, and my faith and fear are knotted together. Thank you that you hear the short, desperate prayers as surely as the long, careful ones. Today I simply say: Lord, save me. I am not able to keep myself afloat, but you are able. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
