Don’t you wish sometimes that you could just shut out the noise around you? The noise in our world right now is deafening and it wages war on our sanity. We are being constantly bombarded with opposing views on everything from masks to political views to the way we choose to educate our children. Everything is up for discussion and every voice demands to be heard. The swirling opposition can be compared to the all too familiar hurricane force winds that we have witnessed wreaking havoc along our coastlines. The push and the pull of the voices around us along with the pressure of having to remain isolated, separated and distanced from one another is enough to create the perfect storm in the landscape of our lives. We cry out for peace, we pray for a resolution and still the chaos remains. The voice of the disciples echoes in my ear –
“… ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’”
Mark 4:38 (ESV)
I think that when we reflect on the event of Jesus calming the storm in Mark 4 we focus on the Lord’s power over the elements, and rightly so. However, we can’t forget the fact that Jesus was on the boat sleeping. In the midst of a storm strong enough to fill the boat with water, our Savior was asleep.
“And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion…”
Mark 4:37-38 (ESV)
There is no doubt that Jesus knew the storm was occurring and yet he slept. He could have prevented the storm from coming, he could have stopped it once the boat began taking on water, but he didn’t. He slept. The disciples, full of fear, woke Jesus, and he immediately calmed the storm but turned to them and asked why they lacked faith.
“He said to them, ‘Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?’”
Mark 4:40 (ESV)
We are such a visual people. We yearn for objective facts as proof of our faith. We want signs and reassurances that what we believe is not in vain. Sometimes I wonder if I wouldn’t be just like the disciples who had Jesus with them there in the flesh but were still afraid. Their plea was not exactly kind – Lord don’t you care? Of course he cared, but his desire for them is the same desire he has for us – to develop a faith that believes in him and knows that he will carry us through the storm.
Jesus is the same, stable, never changing presence (Hebrews 13:8) who possesses the peace that passes understanding (Philippians 4:7) when the storms and chaos of our world surround us. When we seek him, the winds and the waves that threaten to pull us under will retreat as we focus on the creator who knows the number of hairs on our head and the amount of burdens on our hearts.
“Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.”
Luke 12:7 (ESV)
Giving God the Glory 