AT PEACE IN THE STORM

“A furious squall came up and the waves broke over the boat so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion.” (Mark 4:37,38 NIV)

What a ridiculous situation! Wind howling, little fishing boat writhing in the storm, waves crashing over the sides, twelve men frantically trying to keep the craft afloat and Jesus sleeping through it all! How could He sleep with the icy waves drenching Him every now and then, and the boat wildly rocking in the waves? It’s no wonder the disciples were irritated with Him and shook Him awake with a stern rebuke, “Don’t you care if we drown?”

Jesus woke up, wiped the water from His eyes and stood up in the heaving stern. With a sweeping gesture with His hand across the expanse of water, He shouted into the wind, “Be quiet!” Instantly the wind subsided, and the water sank down into a dead calm, the stars shone in a cloudless night sky and the moon cut a silvery path across the lake. The disciples were stunned. They could not believe what had just happened; from howling gale and raging sea to dead calm within minutes. Who was this man and how could He do that?

Jesus ignored their amazement at the miracle and called their attention to their own complete mistrust of Him. “Why did you doubt?” He demanded. They had no answer.

Let’s examine the situation. Jesus said, “Let us go over to the other side.” He never said or did anything outside His Father’s instruction; therefore He intended to reach the other side of the lake. Since He was completely at peace, trusting His Father’s love and purpose – and he was still to go to the cross – the storm was not a threat to Him. It was a natural phenomenon over which He had complete control within His Father’s plan. He could sleep peacefully despite the raging water and the drenching waves because He dwelt safely in God.

What surprises me is that the disciples were more amazed about His stilling the storm than about His sleeping through it! Did it not occur to them that it was unnatural for anyone to sleep so peacefully in such outrageous circumstances? Should that not have aroused their astonishment and alerted them to something about Jesus that was much bigger than they could understand?

What can we take from this story for ourselves? Since Jesus’ instruction to anyone who would be His disciple is a simple “Follow me”, what the story holds up for us here is a lesson in trust in the trustworthiness of our Father. The disciples’ terror was a clear indication that they did not trust God’s word to them at that moment, “Let us go over to the other side.”

This is the story of our lives. Built into our old nature through Adam’s rebellion is an instinctive mistrust of God. We just don’t trust His Word. It takes a lifetime for Him to teach us just how trustworthy He is so that He can get on with the task of recreating us in the image of His Son.

We need to make a non-negotiable decision that God is always good and that He loves us, so that we can filter every experience through those unchangeable truths, just as Jesus did.