Jesus Answers 9 Essential QuestionsShembull

Will everything be okay?

What’s the recipe for terror? Well, make the setting a stormy sea in the predawn night, then mix in a ghost striding across the water toward your boat—that would scare even seasoned fishermen who’ve “seen it all.” And it did. When we are terrified by something, we’re fully convinced that everything will not be okay. And here Jesus not only enters into his disciples’ fear, he causes it. His answer to their terror is subtly profound, and important for us to grasp—he does not explain himself; he reveals himself. “It’s all right, I am here! Don’t be afraid.” Our assurance that everything in life will be okay has nothing to do with optimistic explanations about outcomes; it has everything to do with the presence of Jesus in the midst of our fear. And more than quelling our fears, he will invite us to walk into them, always with him right by our side.