by Shelby Barker
"Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” - Mark 4:38
There is this moment in Jesus' ministry where He asks the disciples to get in a boat and head across to the other side of the sea of Galilee. As they get in the boat and head out Jesus falls asleep.
It's at that moment things get crazy. This brutal storm comes over the water. The waves were getting rough and the rain was pounding the boat. The disciples were scrambling to scoop the water out of the boat. Things were chaotic and seemingly hopeless.
They seem so frustrated and wake Jesus up and ask Him that question, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” It’s like that end of the rope moment. The storm was winning... and Jesus was just fast asleep in the bottom of the boat.
One of the things I have been thinking about lately is the chaos we are experiencing right now. I mean, I know there is the whole COVID-19 stuff... and that alone is a major storm in life. But for so many people, that COVID-19 storm is just a punctuation mark or a gust of wind to other storms already present in life.
Maybe it's a preexisting condition, employment concerns, relationship problems, this feeling of hopelessness, addiction, past sin or something else completely. The truth is sometimes when we are in those storms and the waves are crashing in on your life we can easily relate to the disciples wondering if God even cares.
Maybe you are sitting In your storm and you are wondering these same questions. -God, do you hear me? Do you even listen to my prayers? -God are you out there? Why are you not doing anything? God, this storm is winning...I am perishing!
It can seem like God is far off, that He doesn't care. That if He was real, He wouldn't allow this to happen. But look at what happens when the disciple wakes Him.
Peter says that He saw, with his own eyes, Jesus stand up and rebuke the wind and say to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. What.A.Scene. The disciples were hoping there was something bigger than the storm. The entire time that something was asleep in the boat.
You see, I believe that Jesus is bigger than your storm too. That because of Him we can still have hope.
Jesus then turned to the disciples and asks this really powerful question, He says, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
It's a question of perspective. Let me ask it this way. Why are you so afraid of that storm in your life? Why are you so afraid about your job situation? Why are you so afraid about that sickness, or that relationship? Jesus says, "Remember me. I am bigger than those things. Remember that one time I showed up in your life? Hang your faith on that." He says, "Don't worry. Fear not. I haven't gone anywhere. I am right here with you."
That's our faith.
A pastor once said, "FEAR - is believing what hasn’t happened will come true. FAITH - is believing what hasn’t happened will come true." Which one are you believing today?
Jesus is bigger than the storm.
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