There are certain things I’m good at and I don’t particularly need any help with them. If I have to come up with a spectacular dessert for a special dinner I don’t panic at all. I’m a pretty good cook and I have a few recipes in my repertoire that never let me down. Things outside my comfort zone are another story.

We all have areas of our life in which we feel quite capable. That’s a good thing; God wants us going forward confidently with the gifts he has put inside each us. Yet, it is in those times when our own competency fails that we have an even greater advantage from a spiritual perspective.

What happens when our strongest qualifications fail us? For instance, what happened to the disciples when, as seasoned fishermen, a storm at sea swamped them? They woke Jesus crying out: “Save us, Lord; we are perishing!” (Matthew 8:25) Jesus asked them; “‘Why are you timid, you men of little faith?'”

Rather than a rebuke, his statement carries the sense of “Why didn’t you wake me sooner?” The implication is — “before things got so far out of hand.” Well the answer to that is that we often handle as much as possible on our own, especially when we are comfortable with our own abilities.

Our Lord isn’t asleep on the job but he often waits for us to ask for help. This little story is a reminder from scripture not to wait until things get out of hand. Go to him immediately — when competency fails.