Have you seen the weather report for tomorrow? I’m no Ed Buckner, but we are more than likely to experience some intense storms as there is the potential for a severe weather threat making an appearance in the next few days. A low-pressure system is coming in from the west, mixing with moisture from the gulf that could cause strong winds, hail, and even tornadic conditions. Here is a graphic of the forecast for today through Thursday for the southeast portion of the US. (I’m a visual learner).
Recorded for us in Mark 4:35-41 is the story of Jesus calming the storm when the disciples were with Jesus on a boat as they were crossing to the other side. It was a dark and stormy night, and suddenly a furious storm came up, with the waves breaking over the boat so that it was nearly overtaken. Jesus was in the stern on a couch asleep, and the disciples hastily woke Him and asked, “Teacher, don’t you care if we are dying?” Jesus then gets up and rebukes the wind and calms the storm by calling out to the severe weather threat, “Hush, be still”. The wind died down, and the sea becomes perfectly calm. Jesus then asks the disciples, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” Then the disciples became even more afraid and asked, “Who is this guy that even the wind and the sea obey Him”?
At the heart of this story is a lesson on trust. Sure it’s understandable to be scared at times. It makes perfect sense to be afraid while on a water body with a storm raging around you. But being scared is at odds with what Jesus is going to show them. They need to know what it means to trust.
Here’s the thing, Jesus took them out there. He was there with them in the storm by no accident. And he is in the back of the boat sleeping like nothing is going on. And that is where their faith should have taken off. But instead, they fail to trust when they let their human logic take charge. The severe threat overcomes what should have been their severe trust.
The lesson for us is about trust and not about fear. Life is not about the things that scare us or the ideology we build about how the world should work. Life is about how God works, how he calms even the most severe threats in our lives. We need to learn to hush and be still ourselves, and then maybe we will realize that the raging storm around us is not much of a severe threat after all. We just have to build our severe trust to be stronger than any severe threat coming in from the west, east, north, or south.
Seriously though… Be careful over the next few days but don’t let fear overcome your trust.
I love you,
Alex