Where's Your Peace?

On that day, when evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s go across to the other side of the lake.” So after leaving the crowd, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat, and other boats were with him. Now a great windstorm developed and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was nearly swamped. But he was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. They woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care that we are about to die?” So he got up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Be quiet! Calm down!” Then the wind stopped, and it was dead calm. And he said to them, “Why are you cowardly? Do you still not have faith?” They were overwhelmed by fear and said to one another, “Who then is this? Even the wind and sea obey him!”

~ Mark 4:35-41

Storms shake things up.  Storms bring change.  Storms are not always welcome.  But storms are a part of life.  

In today's passage, Jesus and the Disciples were boating across to the other side of a lake.  Jesus, who was tired from teaching and healing, fell asleep in the back of the boat.  Then came the wind which stirred up the waves until the boat began taking on water.  And Jesus slept on.  Finally, when the boat was about to swamp, the Disciples decided it was probably time to wake Jesus up and inform Him that the boat was going to sink.  

So instead of waking Jesus and telling Him, "We are sinking!  Help!" the Disciple take a different, rather disrespectful, approach by asking Jesus, "Don't you care that we are about to die?"  Ever notice when stress enters our lives and we feel overwhelmed, courtesy is one of the first things to disappear?

Jesus woke up and told the storm to, as my Grampa told us many times, "Sit Down and Shut Up!" In the Greek, the word means to "silence one's voice" (usually involuntarily with a gag or some other restraint).

  

Think about this:

     * Do you think the Jesus was unaware of the storm?

     * Do you think Jesus panicked as the Disciples did?

     * Why?

Jesus was not surprised or taken off guard by the storm.  He knew the storm was coming.  Jesus had no need to panic because He knew storms are never permanent.  Jesus also had no reason to panic because He is God the Son.  Jesus relied on the fact that the Father will take care of His children even when the children cannot see how.  Jesus faced the storm head-on and reminded the storm who is in charge (and it isn't the storm).

Now, think about this:  God has promised never to leave us and that He will take care of us.  So why do we fear storms?  Because storms are loud, chaotic, destructive, and in your face!  Storms don't surprise our Father, because He knew all about you and everything that would happen in your life before He even spoke the world into being!

And if we claim to trust in Jesus, what would happen if we turned our storms over to Him?  Storm....meet Jesus!  Who do you think would have the last word?