MARK 4:35-41 – On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
THEME OF THE DAY. REMEMBER HIS NEVER-CHANGING CHARACTER. Today’s scripture is a riveting account in the lives of our Lord’s disciples. The lessons for us are many, but let’s enter the scene leading us to focus on just one of those lessons.
It likely started out with barely a ripple on the sea. The harbor looked like glass; calm as could be. If the storm was already upon them, these seasoned sailors would not have approached their boats, let alone gone to sea. Another indication the storm had yet to come upon them was the evening sky not blanketed by dark clouds hiding the stars. Again, being seasoned sailors and fishermen, if the stars were not visible, they would have assumed a storm was possible and not gone to sea.
So, with the Lord Jesus giving orders, “Let us go across to the other side”, the disciples cast off their lines, weighed anchor, and headed out to cross the sea. And then it came . . . Mark writes, “A great windstorm arose.” Not just a little wind across the bow. Not a light breeze, but a full-fledged storm bringing both sinking water into the boat and paralyzing fear into the disciples’ hearts – the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”
There are parallels in our lives with this story. Not literally, but in reality. “Great storms” of trials, difficulties, and tough circumstances come into our lives and we, like the disciples, encounter fear. And like the disciples, we may act irrationally with words like “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” Why irrational? Remember who they are crying out to? The Lord Jesus. The God who is love (1 John 4:8). To say, even during trying times, that the Lord doesn’t care for us is not only irrational, but blasphemous. We are attacking His pure character by questioning His love. But we don’t have to yield to irrational and sinful fear. First, the storm causing fear in the disciples, as well as the storms in our lives, are not by chance. God sent them and for good purposes. When tempted to question God’s love in our lives during tough circumstances, stop and don’t let fear and feelings overrule faith. Another truth to help us when tempted to let circumstances override our theology is to remember that the Lord who sent the tough circumstances is the Lord with us in our circumstances. He never abandons the work in us, nor those in whom He is working.
Yes, storms will come, but we can handle them, even grow through them, if we first see them through the eyes of Him who sent them!
PRAYER: “Father, help me to remember nothing happens to me that did not originate in heaven.”
QUOTE: “The God who sent the trials in your life is also the God who will be with You in the trials in your life”