Weathering the Storm

I recently heard a sermon on Mark 4 which tells the story of Jesus calming the storm. Jesus said to His disciples in v. 35, "Let us go over to the other side." On the way over, a fierce storm arose...it was so bad that the waves were breaking over the bow and the boat was beginning to sink. Who did the disciples turn to? Jesus. Have you ever thought about the reason behind why they woke Him up? Even though the gospels indicate that the disciples didn't always fully understand His teaching and who He was, they knew enough to know that in a life-threatening situation where the circumstances are dire, He was the only one who could help. They could have tried to bail out the boat in their own strength or left Him sleeping, but they woke Him up because of their faith in Him. They knew that if anyone could help, it would be Jesus.

In verse 40, after Jesus calms the storm, He says to the disciples, "Why are you so timid? How is it that you have no faith?" I understand this to mean that He is questioning their lack of faith that He would get them to the other side. I think that anyone in that kind of a situation would panic. We react to what we can immediately perceive through our senses. When the waves are crashing over the bow, all we see is a sinking boat and we click into survival mode. It is a normal human response. While the disciples may have panicked in the midst of the situation and had a temporary lapse in faith regarding the final outcome, the fact that they woke Jesus up shows that they truly believed that He could help them.

Jesus told them that they would go to the other side....and in Chapter 5, verse 1 it says, "And they came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gerasenes." He kept His promise...He always does. He told them that they would go to the other side, but He didn't say what the trip would be like before they got there. It was a terrifying and life-threatening experience for them, I'm sure....BUT, Jesus was in the boat with them the whole time. The entire situation was under His complete control.

Are you currently in one of life’s storms? Are you experiencing crushing and relentless stress, pain or emotions akin to the waves of a stormy sea? Read this story and remember....

1. He is in the boat with you (4:38)

2. Go to Him as often as you need and let your heart’s cry be heard (Mark 4:38 -- if this isn't a brutally honest cry of real anguish and fear, I don't know what is.) By going to Him, you are practicing and strengthening your faith.

3. Everything is under His complete control (4:39)

4. God always keeps His promises. (5:1)

This passage of scripture has been on my heart and mind a lot lately. I have read it numerous times and always seen it as a lesson in faith and dealing with the individual trials of life. Several weeks ago, I realized that you can look at this story not only in the light of dealing with individual trials, but that it could be applied to the span of one's life as a whole. Jesus looks at each one of our lives in its entirety (He is outside of time, so He sees it all at once). He invites us into the boat (our spiritual birth) and says, "Come, let's go to the other side." The rest of our life is the trip in between shorelines, with "the other side" being eternity spent with Him. We spend our whole lives on Earth "in the boat." Some storms are worse and/or longer than others, but we must cling to Him and to His promises. He WANTS us to come to Him. It isn't a sign of weakness to cry out to Him, it is an admission that we can't do it on our own. It is believing in faith that we can do all things through Him who strengthens us.