AT the time of the storm upon the Galilean lake, when the disciples cried out to the Master to save them, the question which he put to them was, "Where is your faith?" It was evident from their self-confessed inability to cope with the situation that their faith in the power of matter to destroy them was greater than their faith in the power of Spirit, to save them; hence it is not surprising that to his very pointed question not one of them could answer a word.
This is not the only instance in which Jesus had to do for his disciples the work they should have done for themselves. When they asked him to dismiss the multitude who had followed him out into the wilderness, so that they might go and buy food, his instant response was, "They need not depart; give ye them to eat." But they only proved the insufficiency of their faith by looking helplessly at the few loaves and fishes.
How often must the Master have groaned within himself at the deadly dulness of those whom he had so tenderly sought to teach! Nevertheless with unfailing patience he said. "Bring them hither to me." He had given the disciples an opportunity to manifest their own understanding of the truth, and they had lost it. So he not only fed the multitude for them, but in the instance above noted he had not another word for the terror-stricken little group than the question already quoted, as he quietly turned from them to rebuke the winds and the waves with such authority that the tempest could do no less than cease and the calm of Spirit follow.
