Rebuking the Winds and Sea

This morning I found something.

It's been sitting on a printed page for centuries. I'm obviously not the first person to find it, but it did rather feel like finding a geocache that muggles walk by every day. I have read passed it several times and never bothered to look.

The LDS Bible Dictionary observes a major objective of Matthew as he wrote his gospel account:

It appears from the internal evidence of each record that Matthew was written to persuade the Jews that Jesus is the promised Messiah. To do so, he cites several O.T. prophecies and speaks repeatedly of Jesus as the Son of David, thus emphasizing his royal lineage.

It has been one of my points of study, recently, to mark the passages of scripture in Matthew that show this fulfillment of prophesy, and how Matthew shows that Jesus is Jehovah of Old Testament.

This morning I was studying Matthew chapter 8. There is an obvious reference in verse 17.

17 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.

The next vignette is about Jesus calming the storm. It's a well known bible story. Jesus is asleep in a boat when a storm arises. The disciples feel like their lives are in danger and wake Jesus. He calms the storm.

This morning I felt like chasing a few footnotes. So as I read the story, the word "rebuked" stood out to me. "Then he arose, and rebuked the wind and the sea; and there was a great calm."

The footnotes lead to three scriptures: Psalms 65:7, Psalms 89:9, and Psalms 107:29. I had never read them before. But each of these scriptures talks about the LORD (Jehovah) calming the waves. I particularly like the account in chapter 107.

24 These see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep.

25 For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
26 They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
27 They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken aman, and are at their wits’ end.
28 Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
29 He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
30 Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.

The disciples would have known these scriptures - though they probably weren't thinking about them during the storm. Jesus, obviously, would have known the scriptures. To me it is further testimony that God knows our lives. He knows the end from the beginning. He knows the storms in my life, and the things that frighten me. Perhaps He could have even inspired an ancient psalmist to write about how my storms and problems were resolved.