“Teacher, do you not care if we perish?” And he awoke and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?” And they were filled with awe, and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey him?”
Mark 4:38-41 (RSV)
The boat was swamped by waves and rocked by the wind, which terrified the disciples, especially since Jesus was sleeping through it all. They finally woke Him up, shouting “Lord, don’t you care that we are perishing?”
Jesus seemed disturbed by their faithless words and He asked, “Why are you afraid, have you no faith?” He must have expected them to have faith since He was in the boat with them.
One thing that seems to be very concerning to Jesus is faith. He praises people who have faith and reprimands people who don’t. He once asked, “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8)
Scripture tells us that without faith, it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who earnestly seek Him.
(Hebrews 11:6)
Our faith seems to depend on our perspective of how big God is. The disciples saw the storm as a worsening situation, which was bigger than Jesus. Their lack of faith shows by what they said after Jesus stopped the storm. The gospels record them saying, “What kind of man is this, that the wind and sea obey Him ?”
Faith is a journey and they were not yet persuaded of who Jesus was, since they wondered what kind of “man” He was. They thought of Jesus as a kind of man, because their faith was still developing, but in the end, that storm tossed boat deepened their faith in who Jesus really is. They discovered “Who” is with us, is much greater than “What” is against us, and Jesus is greater than any storm.
Maybe there’s a way to practice the Presence of Jesus in the midst of our storms. If we can visualize Him with us, we can place our trust in Him by speaking words of faith. I often wonder what Jesus preferred to hear His disciples say as they woke Him up that day. Maybe, instead of hearing “Don’t you care that we’re perishing!”,
He wanted to hear “Jesus we’re trusting in you.”
I can visualize Jesus standing up in that shaking, soaked boat, with His hand raised toward the sky, speaking with authority, words to rebuke the storm. His voice was a human voice, but He spoke with the authority of One who created the wind, rain and the sea. Jesus spoke to the sea, “Peace, be still !” and there was instant peace, because of who He is.
Whatever storm we are going through, Jesus is Lord over all the forces of nature. He is also Lord of our bodies and minds, and when He speaks, He brings physical, mental and emotional healing.
His words collapse all strongholds of evil, but most of all, He brings inner peace to those who trust in Him.
Just like the disciples, the storms in our life’s journey may cause us to briefly lose our footing, but when we remember “Who” is with us, and pray in faith, we find that Jesus has always been standing with us in every storm, to give us His peace.
Lord, thank you for being with us in every storm and we trust you to give us perfect peace, calmness, and healing to our body, mind, soul and spirit. Amen
