Where Is Your Faith, Indeed?

Luke 8:25
“Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples.

This verse struck me today as I read it. Usually (OK, always) I have read this to be an exasperated Jesus asking why the disciples had so little faith in him. Why they didn't believe in a Jesus powerful enough to save them from the (literal) storm that was about to sink their boat.

And to be fair... that seems to be pretty much the situation, in a nutshell. But another thought struck me this morning, and it doesn't disagree with this first interpretation so much as throw another slant on it. Simply put, Jesus never asked the disciples why they didn't have any faith. He didn't ask them if they had any faith. He asked them where it was.

As I said, this line of thinking isn't going to radically change how I read that exchange. But it's a good rabbit hole to peek down. The disciples did have faith. They had a fair bit of it. There were a number of seasoned fishermen in that boat with Jesus! The problem is, their faith was limited to what they themselves could do. And fishermen don't change the weather.

But Jesus can.

Jesus asked them where their faith was because he was also in the boat. That fact, when taken into account, substantially expands the list of options. We're back to another version of the loaves and fishes food equation. So we must always ask ourselves whether God factors in our calculations of the possible.

Sadly, I'm usually muddling my way through. Doing the best that I can with my limited resources. What's worse, I live as if that's all anyone can do.

I have two hands, but one of them is no longer healthy. I'm amused by the "almighty strength" that the left now has when compared to the right. But before the injury, the right was stronger than the left. I have rather limited faith in my right hand now, but I still have full faith in my left hand. But that's faith in a hilariously limited hand. What about the hand of God almighty actively at work in my life? What can that hand do?

Where is my faith? And where should it be?