Mark 4:37-41 37: “And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. 38 But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, ‘Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?’ 39 Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace, be still!’ And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. 40 But He said to them, ‘Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?’ 41 And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, ‘Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!’"
Jesus’ power was evident to all who were around Him. He could heal the sick, and cast out demons; no doubt He was powerful. Yet while in the same boat with Jesus the disciples became fearful when the storm and the waves beat about the boat. Maybe they thought that Jesus was not able to calm the sea; however, in their panic they did approach Him and say, “do you not care that we are perishing?" Could they really think that Jesus would not care for their lives? Perhaps they thought that because Jesus was in the boat everything would be smooth sailing. I tend to think that they believed that if the master was there then everything was going to perfect.
We tend to live our lives in that same boat. If we have surrendered our lives to Jesus, we falsely believe that everything should be perfect and nothing should ever go wrong. If we have that mindset we are setting ourselves up for heartbreak and failure. Jesus never promised that we would not have trouble in or lives; in fact, He said just the opposite. Jesus told His disciples that because we are His this world would set up against us and hate us. Along with the hate the world has for true Christians, we also have to deal with the trials that happen because we live in a fallen world.
We will have storms in our lives. Those storms of life will come even if Jesus is on the boat. They are there to make us fully trust Him in our life. Therefore, the Christ-follower will see these storms of life as opportunities to grow in Christ and to learn from the crucible of trials.
Tomorrows Readings:
Old Testament: num 8-10 New Testament Mark 5:1-20
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