The sky filled with clouds so quickly, they had no time to turn back to shore to avoid what was happening. Waves started crashing over the sides of their boat before they could formulate a plan to survive. The crisis had caught them off guard — especially since they had followed Jesus’ direction to be there. When a storm came over this particular lake, it swept in with little to no forewarning — you just had to brace yourself and try to outlast its force.

This lake was known as the Sea of Galilee, and it is where the disciples fished and boated, so they knew its unpredictable behavior. With high hills surrounding water well below sea level, abrupt temperature changes made sudden storms a common event. Sometimes storms would pass as quickly as they came, but their force could not be contained or regulated. For people in small boats, these storms could be deadly, and this one caused the disciples to question whether they would survive.

In the midst of the storm’s chaos, when they looked at Jesus, He was sleeping. They probably stared at Him for a moment in disbelief, then their desperate cries shook Him awake: “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!” (Matthew 8:25).