It seems to me that all this was arranged with profoundest wisdom, so that they might not ask His aid as soon as the storm had begun to beat against the ship, but only when the danger would be at its highest, that the might of the divine power might thus be the more evident, checking the fierce sea and bringing such a great calm that of a sudden not a vestige of the storm remained. For had it risen while He was awake, either they would not have been afraid, or they would not have besought His help, or they might have thought in a circumstance of this kind that He could do nothing.
And so He sleeps, leaving them in fear, in which their senses would be sharpened to perceive the significance of what was to come. For no one feels what takes place in another's body as acutely as that which happens in his own. Before, they had seen others receive favours, while they as yet had received none, and so in this way they were without experience: and since in their peril they would receive help from Him, He permits them for their instruction to be tossed and shaken about by the storm.