Mark 4:35-39
New International Version (NIV)
35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” 36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”
39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.
Day Fifteen
The Calm in the middle of the Storm
No matter how hard we try to avoid them eventually we will find ourselves in the middle of one of life’s storm. Most of us have been through many storms in our life time and we know that each storm brings different trials and tribulations. We also that the more storms that we go through the more difficult they become to endure. Life’s storms can bring wear and tear on our already weary bodies, leading to relentless days and restless nights. However what we must realize is that even though the storms may continue to come, we can find peace in the middle of the storm.
The key to making it through the storm is the same as surviving a severe weather storm, preparation. Just as God has blessed us with meteorologist who can help us know when to prepare for severe weather, He has also given us the word to help us make it through life’s storms. The Word will not only help us make it through it will help make us stronger when we come out of the other side.
However similar to how severe weather is harder to handle if we do not heed the meteorologist’s advice and prepare, the same can be said if we only go to the Word in the middle of the storm instead of before the storm hits. This is why it is crucial for us to immerse ourselves in the Word of God, because we will be prepare when the storm hits instead of scrambling to pull everything together when it is already a full-fledged storm.
In our text from above Jesus uses an opportunity at sea in the middle of a storm to show us how we struggle when the is no need for us to do so. First let’s examine the situation. If we read the full text we see that evening had just came and Jesus tells his disciples that he wants to cross the over to the other side of the lake.
Now we know that Jesus knows that a storm is coming, because He is the knower of all, so why doesn’t He just calm or rebuke the wind before they even come? He doesn’t do this because He wants to use this storm as an opportunity to teach His disciples, and us, what to do when we are in the middle of a storm.
So knowing that a storm is coming Jesus goes to the stern and falls asleep. Now I’m don’t know much about boats but when I looked up the definition for a stern it says that it is the rear or aft (back) part of a ship or a boat. So we can see that Jesus purposely separates Himself from the others knowing that the storm is coming. He did this so that after they tried all that they knew to do, they would have to come to Him. Remember that during this time boats were one of their main means of transportation so I believe there were some skilled boatmen on the boat, still with all of their knowledge and know how they still could not conquer the storm without Jesus’ help
If we put ourselves and our situations in the place of the people on that boat with Jesus we ought to be able to see a parallel. Sometimes Jesus has to separate Himself from us and our problems to let us see that we cannot handle them on our own. Though we think that we are in control of our ship, when the storm hit we realize just how minimal our navigational skills are. We should put our life in Jesus’ hands before the storms hits, so that when it does we will know that there is no need to panic because He is in control.
In the text we see that the disciples finally came to realized that very thing, because after fighting the storm the smarten up and said to themselves wait a minute we do have a miracle worker name Jesus on board with us. When they finally came to Him Jesus only spoke three words to stop the storm. He said, “Quiet” and “Be still” and immediately the winds stop. He can and will do the same they in the middle of our storms, for He and He alone can bring calm in the middle of any storm.
In the next verse not included in our text Jesus asked His disciples why are they afraid and if they still had no faith. He is asking us the same exact questions. Why try and make it through the storms alone when we have Jesus just waiting to tell our troubles Quiet and be still. All we have to do is have faith that He will see us through, for no problem is too large or too small for Him because He has all power within His hands.
Join us tomorrow as we continue our journey. Until then God Bless,
James Anthony Love
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