Trust - part I

Does God care about your situation and mine? 

Does it sometimes seem that He is sleeping thru the worst storms in your life?

The disciples may have thought so. Mark 4:35-41 recounts the story of a test of their faith. After a long day of teaching on the shore of Galilee, Jesus says to the disciples “Let us go across to the other side.” So they take their boat and head out. While crossing to the other side, a windstorm comes that threatens to do them in.  The disciples become frantic, expecting the worse. Jesus however is asleep. They wake him up. “Teacher don’t you care that we are perishing?” 

Did Jesus know there would be a storm before He got into the boat?  If he knew, why did he suggest they go out, and why did He let himself fall asleep?  Didn’t he know the disciples would need him?  Was this all just to show them who He really was?

Jesus wakes up and rebukes them.  “Why are you so afraid?  Have you still no faith?” They had seen Him do miracles for others, but now they needed a miracle themselves.

Did they still not really know who He was?

Is this really an issue of trust? Am I, like the disciples, quick to assume the worst will happen when a storm comes?  Do I frantically try to bail the water out of my sinking ship myself?  Or do I put my total trust in Him even though the waves continue to batter and toss my boat? Do I stop worrying and quiet my soul long enough to hear Him say “Come rest here in my arms, I’ve got this under control.”

Do I take refuge in His arms and know that He has everything under control?

Do I recognize who He really is?

“Peace!  Be Still!  He spoke to the storm. The wind ceased and there was great calm.

The disciples marveled “Who is this that even the wind and sea obey Him?”

Who is Jesus? He is the one who spoke the wind and the sea into existence-the one who holds this whole world together-the one that storms obey. 

“Peace!  Be Still!”  He says to my anxious heart.

He spoke it to me when I found out I had ovarian cancer.

He speaks it to me still.

“You are not alone. I care. I am with you always.”

You are His child.  Trust Him. Let Him hold you in His arms and speak peace to the raging storm around you and peace to the raging storm within you. He will get you safely to the other side.