PERFECT GOD…PERFECT MAN
35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” 36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”
39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.
40 He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
41 They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!” Mark 4:35-41
What a lovely story, Jesus’ fragile humanity and His sonship in perfect unity! In contrast to the disciples who had not yet come to understand or practise their sonship in God, Jesus’ attitude presented the perfect balance between an ordinary human being at the mercy of circumstances, and the Son of God whose confidence in the Father’s love and His purpose for Him, which nothing could derail because what God wants will always prevail, provided such security that He could sleep in a howling gale.
This shows the difference between us humans who are suspicious of God, and Jesus, who knew the Father and could therefore trust Him all the time, no matter what happened. Jesus called it “my rest, my peace, my joy.” This really speaks to our hearts because this is where God wants to take every child of His. This is what sonship is all about. Part of Jesus’ mission was to show us how to be sons. He took His disciples through some gruelling training so that they could see, feel and experience what sonship was all about.
On this occasion, they were more amazed by the miracle of the wind than they were about the attitude of Jesus. Why did Jesus calm the storm? Was it because it had, and had not served its purpose? It did serve its purpose by showing the disciples what trust is all about and by exposing their failure to trust God, but it didn’t serve its purpose because they fell into a panic instead of being at peace as Jesus was.
Is that why God allows stuff to happen to us that isn’t the kingdom of God? If we interpret it as “the attack of Satan”, we have completely missed the point. If Satan causes the problem, God allows it. Jesus made that clear when He warned Peter of his coming denial. Jesus didn’t forestall the attack. He focused on Peter’s faith. Adverse circumstances are an essential part of building our faith muscles. God wants to root out all suspicion of Him by allowing or setting up circumstances to expose the remnants of our mistrust.
Don’t blame the devil when stuff happens. He is only a tool in God’s hands to fashion you into someone who resembles Jesus, our elder brother. Trust God to work all things for your good because His intention is to conform you to the image of His Son that He might be the firstborn among many brothers (Rom. 8:28-29).