I don't sleep well. I lay down and no matter how tired I am, as soon as my head hits the pillow a million things start spinning through my mind. Even if I was just falling asleep on the couch in front of the tv and I actually get up and drag myself to bed the hamster wheel begins....it's frustrating.
Especially since my husband (whom I love, don't get me wrong), literally passes out the moment he's under the covers.
As you can imagine, this does not grant me a sense of peace. If you've been around for any amount of time, you know that the WORST time to think about what's going on in life is when you're tired. Of course, that's all the evil hamster makes you think about - not licorice and confetti raining from the sky. No, it's all the life issues that stress you out. Talk about NO PEACE.
It makes me think of the time that Jesus and the disciples were in the boat on the water and a storm came up. Crashing waves, lightning, thunder, wind...terror....and the leader of the group was sleeping. SLEEPING (my first reaction is, of course, jealousy...I wish I could sleep through that! I am a very light sleeper *sigh*).
The disciples freaked out. They were upset that Jesus was ignoring what was going on around them. They felt (even in his presence) abandoned. How ironic that even in God's ever-presence, we can feel abandoned.
But the real kicker for me is that Jesus wasn't ignoring the trouble, he just was facing it with peace. The disciples thought they needed something that they didn't (a calm sea). God will always provide what we need (Philippians 4:19), so it's not a question of Jesus avoiding the issue.
If we really follow the lead of our teacher, he is showing us to be calm and peaceful in the face of a storm. He is showing us that he is with us, and that sometimes the storm must rage for a while before he steps in so that we can know the glory of his immediately powerful word.