Emergency Religion

“Lord, save me–and immediately Jesus stretched forth His hand” (Matthew 14:30-31).

Shakespeare, in his drama “The Tempest,” has one of his characters say: “To prayers, to prayers, all is

lost.” An emergency has arisen at sea; a great storm is tossing the boat like a bobbing cork. The sailors are

frightened within an inch of their lives. They cannot save themselves. They are powerless in the presence of the

storm. In an emergency, there is only one thing left for them to do; thus―they pray.

A similar situation is recorded in the eighth chapter of Matthew. Jesus and His disciples are in a boat on

the sea of Galilee, and a great tempest rages. Waves are coming over the deck of the ship, and the disc