Life

Luke 8:22-24
²² One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and set out. ²³ As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger.
²⁴ The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!”
He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. ²⁵ “Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples.
In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.”
     By now the disciples hadn't been with Jesus for very long, but they had witnessed His miracles, seeing He has great power.  If they hadn't already known He was God-incarnate, this instance may have at least solidified some "hunches."  Once the storm arose and their ship was being hammered, they panicked.  Jesus was sleeping; he knew all was well.  The fear of the disciples drove them to waking the Jesus Christ.  When Jesus said, "where's your faith?," He wasn't ridiculing them.  He saw fear drive them, not faith. 
     How about our own lives, now:  storms come.  Sometimes life is hard.  When something is hard it does not mean it's bad.  Now, God isn't asleep on our boat (I'll use it as an analogy for life, as well), because He never sleeps (Psalm 121).  Nothing shakes Him.  Nothing in our lives take God by surprise.  Now if fear drives us to run to the Father, that's good to a point.  Fear cannot be our master.  When life is hard, our faith must lead us to the Father.  In all circumstances, running to our Rock, our Fortress, is always the good plan.
Jesus never said life would be easy.  In fact, He said there would be trouble (16:33), but the greater pronouncement that we must "take heart!"  For I have overcome the world.  Nothing tells us that God only gives us what we could handle.  Sometimes life is just too big for us.  What God did say, though, is "My grace is enough for you."  Why as Christians would we say all we need if God, then say that He doesn't give us things we can't "handle?"  God's no masochist, He doesn't enjoy our pain, but He does use life's difficulties to draw us near to Him.  If what comes our way in life we can handle, then we have no dependence upon our God.  But life sometimes is much bigger than us.  Weakness isn't a bad thing, but rather evidence pointing toward our chronic dependence upon a completely sovereign God.
     God in the New Testament is the same as the God of the Old.  God's grace, love and mercy is just as prevalent in each of the testaments.  In Zechariah 3:4, God speaks of removing Joshua's sin (mercy), then giving Him rich garments (grace) as well.  In regard to grace and mercy, they're both supremely undeserved.  In mercy, God forgave our sins and washed us clean; in His grace He made us sons.  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  In several of the OT prophets, God spoke through them and said, "Your sins are removed" or "I remember your sins no more.  In the NT, we see Jesus dying for us, removing our sin from us.  None of which warranted by us. 
     We can say that we aren't worthy all we want, and within ourselves, that is true.  But when I look at the cross, the empty tomb, I see a separate declaration:  you are worthy, you are worth it.  By His death and resurrection, Jesus said that we are worth it.  Dare we call Him a liar:  He went to death and back to win our hearts; who can say the same?  "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)  Before we were born Jesus died for us.  Before our first breath, Jesus laid down His life.  Being God, He knew the sins we would commit.  He died for those before we committed them.  What great love is this that the King would die for a rebel?  "Conventional" thinking would say the king would kill him.  Conventional thinking is not God's thinking.  God thinks the world of us, which is why He would rather die than to spend an eternity with us.  The veil is torn, the door is open and we can come to Him.  We can meet with Him.  Dare we refuse Him? 
Matthew 11:28-30 ²⁸ “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”