Mark 4:35-41 PHILLIPS On the evening of that day, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side of the lake.” So they sent the crowd home and took Him with them in the little boat in which He had been sitting, accompanied by other small craft. Then came a violent squall of wind which drove the waves aboard boat until it was almost swamped. Jesus was in the stern asleep on the cushion. They awoke Him with words, “Master, don’t You care that we’re drowning?” And He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the waves, “Hush now! Be still!” The wind dropped and everything was very still. “Why are you so frightened? What has happened to your faith?!’ He asked them. But sheer awe swept over them and they kept saying to each other, “Who ever can He be? – even the wind and waves do what He tells them!”
Below excerpted from the JESUS STORYBOOK BIBLE
“Jesus stood up and spoke to the storm. “Hush!,” He said. That’s all. And the strangest thing happened…. The wind and the waves recognized Jesus’ voice. (They had heard it before, of course – it was the same voice that made them in the beginning.) They listened to Jesus and they did what He said.
Immediately the wind stopped. The water calmed down. It glittered innocently in the moonlight and lapped quietly against the side of the boat, as if nothing had happened. The little boat bobbed gently up and down and there was a great quiet all around. Then Jesus turned to His wind-torn friends. “Why were you so scared?” He asked. “Did you forget Who I AM? Did you believe your fears instead of me?”
Jesus’ friends were quiet – as quiet as the wind and the waves. And into their hearts came a different kind of storm. “What kind of man is this?” they asked themselves anxiously. “Even the wind and the waves obey Him!” they said because they didn’t understand. They didn’t realize yet that Jesus was the Son of God.
Jeus’ friends had been so afraid they had only seen the big waves. They had forgotten that, if Jesus was with them, they had nothing to be afraid of. NO MATTER HOW SMALL THEIR BOAT OR HOW BIG THE STORM.
Observation
This lake was familiar to them; it was their usual fishing grounds. As fishermen, they knew how to handle a boat in rough water and how to judge the weather to know when a storm was coming. This one surprised and frightened them with its intensity and their inability to control the situation. If these fishermen were panicky and terrified, it was surely a wild, violent and powerful storm. Surely, they would have thought it strange that Jesus could remain asleep in the chaotic buffeting of this storm, but they were so focused on the wind, the waves and the water washing into the boat that they had stopped thinking.
Jesus wanted them to move their thinking, their understanding, out of the natural – what is humanly possible – into the supernatural – what is possible for God. When it came time to feed the 5000, hadn’t Jesus taken a meager and insufficient little boy’s lunch and supernaturally made it more than enough for everyone to eat and be filled? When the incurably sick came, was Jesus able to heal every disease? This stormy trip was a new circumstance but the same Jesus.
So, here Jesus gives them a dose of truth and grace by asking, “Why were you scared? Did you forget who I AM? Did you believe your fears instead of me?” Then, instead of bringing the boat under control, He calms the sea. He wanted them to understand, to embrace, that all needs, all circumstances, all storms, all insufficiencies, all scary situations are subject to God’s power and authority in and through Him. “Jesus’ friends had been so afraid they had only seen the big waves. They had forgotten that, if Jesus was with them, they had nothing to be afraid of. NO MATTER HOW SMALL THEIR BOAT OR HOW BIG THE STORM.”
Impact on Me
“Why were you scared? Did you forget who I AM? Did you believe your fears instead of me?” These are questions I revisit in every scary storm of life, every time when there is not enough, every time sickness threatens, every time the world seems out of control, every time evil seems to be winning. I am always tempted to believe as a new year passes that we can leave the stormy times of the past behind – years filled with pandemic, death, rioting, rising crime rates, conflict driven by anger, injustice, loss of trust in those who rule over us (federal, state and local), misinformation & conspiracy theories, war and every other disruption of our usual “fishing grounds”.
For any student of history, all of these circumstances are not new. These life events are part of the human condition, repeated over and over from ancient times. They are the legacy of that first mutiny by Adam and Eve in the Garden when they chose to take control away from God and into their own hands by eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. I have made the mistake of eating that fruit many times in my life. However, I have come to know through the experience of my life that the only guarantee of security and peace in life, the only foundation on which hope can be built, has been, continues to be, and will forever remain depending upon this same Jesus that calmed the storm on the Sea of Galilee all those years ago.
So, when I am buffeted by a storm, I need to stop to revisit the questions above and remember that all creation (seen and unseen, emotional, physical, natural or supernatural) is subject to Him. “The wind and the waves recognized Jesus’ voice. (They had heard it before, of course – it was the same voice that made them in the beginning.) They listened to Jesus and they did what He said.” Jesus has promised to never leave me or forsake me so He will always be in my boat. Whether He is awake or asleep, when I think my boat is about to sink, I need to go back and sit down next to Jesus, trusting that we will make it to the other side – regardless of the intensity of the storm along the way.
Devotion
Lord, You are the Creator of all the good that exists. You still have all authority and power in heaven and on earth. You are executing Your plan created from the foundation of the Earth. It is overwhelming to realize the You love and care for me in spite of all I am and do. How many times have I given in to my fears and run in panic to You or, so much worse, away from You. Yet, You still rescue me. What kind of love is this? Holy Spirit, renew my mind so that my thinking can move from the natural to the supernatural, that I may see with the eyes of Jesus and understand with the Father’s heart. Teach me to walk fully in Christ, functioning in my perfect place in His Body, equipped with the weapons of His warfare and always choosing His side of every battle, keeping my eyes on Him regardless of the circumstances swirling around me, content to ride out every storm sitting next to You as You sleep in my boat. Make it so, in the name of Jesus.
Pressing On In His Footsteps 