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Reading through the Gospels #87

 

JESUS CALMS THE STORM

Mark 4:35-41; Matthew 8:23-27; Luke 8:22-25

 

In the evening, Jesus said, "Let us go across to the other side" (the Sea of Galilee, also known as Sea of Tiberia and Lake of Gennesaret) and with Jesus still in the boat, they left the crowd, along with other boats.  Jesus and the (12) disciples needed some rest after their day with the crowds. The crowds could not follow them across the lake by foot! A great escape towards rest! Before they made it to the other side where they could rest, a storm arose and the waves were crashing into the boat and filling the boat up with water.  Jesus got rest; the disciples needed rest, but instead they received stress in the form of waves!

 

Jesus was in the stern (the back) of the boat sleeping through it all! Yep!  Jesus knows complete exhaustion as I sometimes feel! It is comforting to know that He experienced what I experience, so He has compassion on me. Sometimes I am in need of a great escape towards rest, just like Jesus.

 

They woke Him up and asked Him if He cared about whether they were about to die or not. These were fisherman who had been accustomed to this lake and yet they were afraid of dying, so this must have been a storm more powerful than usual. The storm did not wake Jesus, so the men had to wake him. How easy it was for Jesus to not worry or think about the happenings of the day, or the dangers of the voyage, and just rest. I know my mind would have been racing.

 

The men had seen all that Jesus could do and yet they did not even ask him to do anything, only being afraid of their death and thinking Jesus did not care about them, and underestimating His control. Jesus does care! When I face fears, do I think about my fears or do I first think to ask God to do something about them? I've always said that God gives me feelings for a reason and not to feel guilty for having feelings, and to instead pay attention to what my feelings are trying to tell me is wrong.  For instance, the feeling of pain in my muscles may be telling me that I need to rest my body or the feeling of pain in my heart may be telling me I need to ask someone for forgiveness. Recognizing my feelings and what I do with them thereafter is a choice. When I have the feeling of fear, I have a choice to focus on that fear or to focus on Jesus and what He can do to overcome that fear. What any easy choice to make when uncertainty is pressing down on me and forces beyond my control are within God's control!

 

Jesus rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!"  Immediately, just upon His words, everything became calm!  Such power my Jesus has! Quite the opposites from a great storm to a great calm. God is greater than the storm! He does not prevent the storm, but there is peace in the presence of God in the midst of the storm that He has the power to make the storms be still. God is my hope as he can take any storm and make it work for good.

 

Then Jesus said some words that are repeated often, "Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?" (Matthew 8:26 "Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?") (Luke 8:25 "Where is your faith?" ) Then they were filled with fear and they marveled and they said, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?" Jesus was more concerned with the storm in their hearts than the storm on the sea.

 

It's as if Jesus is saying to me, "Why do you let the winds and waves distract you?! I will help You carry on, I love you! How quickly you have forgotten of my power when you are distracted by troubles. You do not have to face storms alone! Why are you afraid of the boat going down when I am in the boat?" It is easy to have faith on sunny days, but on stormy days our faith becomes real and it is during these days that the genuineness of our faith is shown. Who we are and what we believe reveals itself in the midst of the storms. Do I let fear and danger influence me or am I influenced by the power of Christ, my Rock and Salvation.

 

I love to learn. I feel I will always be learning something new my entire life.  However, there are some things I will never be able to learn to do as those are only things that God can do. For those things, I turned to Him and trust him.

 

This is a classic story for me as a Christian as it can be an analogy for the storms of life. Life is unpredictable. Sometimes it feels like my boat is going down, but God is with me, just as He was with them in the boat.  If they would have turned to faith, they could have ridden out the storm. They had been with Jesus following Him everywhere and seeing all his miraculous healings, yet they still did not have enough faith even after witnessing all that He can do.  A better response would have been to wake Him up and ask Him to stop the storm in confidence.  I can pray and ask God to stop my storms in confidence.  He may do so right away or He may choose to do so at the time of my death, but He will calm them eventually.  Do I ever feel that God cannot fix something in my life? That would be a time I would have a lack of faith. I can hear Jesus saying to me, "Where is your faith? What are you afraid of? O you of little faith!" Maybe God is just waiting for me to ask?

 

I have learned to look at the Bible as "it is all about God, and not about me." This story is easily one that I can flip to make it about me.  Turning my focus to God, the truths in this story "about God" are that He is all-powerful, He is in control of all things, He is trustworthy, and He is my helper."  Yes, I find comfort that He is my helper and instruction that I can pray to Him for help, but that's not the focus of the Bible.  I am here to praise God and I praise Him for is power, control, trust, and help! He can help me when I am sad, He can help me when I am glad, and He can help me every single day! He's got the whole world in His hands.

 

Psalm 89:8-9 O Lord God of hosts, who is mighty as you are, O Lord, with your faithfulness all around you? You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them.  

 

Copyright Cheryl Rutledge-Brennecke
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