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Establishing God's Peace
Jesus Accused of Not Caring [Mark 4]
3
5On that day, when evening came, He said to them, "Let us go over to the other side."36Leaving the crowd, they took Him along with them in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him.37And there arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up. 38Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke Him and said to Him, "Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?39And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "Hush, be still." And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm.40And He said to them, "Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?" 41They became very much afraid and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?"
Fear undoes faith. The disciples witnessed Jesus healing the sick, making the blind to see, feeding of thousands of people, casting out demons and constantly showing compassion for people. And yet, when a storm reared its ugly head, they forgot all that they had seen and actually accused Jesus of not caring that they were perishing. Earlier in the chapter, Jesus told a parable of the soils.
18"And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, 19but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
Fear makes you unfruitful. It chokes out spiritual growth when you let it run its course. And it can even make you question whether God cares about you.
9And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "Hush, be still." And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm.40And He said to them, "Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?"
All Jesus said was, "Hush, be still" and "it became perfectly calm." It must have been quite a storm to scare seasoned fishermen on a lake they had fished all of their lives. But all Jesus had to say was "Hush, be still."
I don't know about you, but fear is a constant companion to most of us on the face of this earth. Storms come and go and sometimes with devastating damage. If you keep your eyes on the storm, you will not only lose your faith, but you will end up wondering if God even cares about you. The key is to keep your eyes on Jesus exchanging your fear for His peace in the midst of the storm. He is right there with you caring about your life and allowing trials to grow your faith if you will let them.
Remember that when you are afraid, if you don't look to Him, He is asking you, "Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?"
May you learn to take all of your fears to Jesus, the one who calms the storms, and exchange your fears for His peace. He loves you so and cares about your faith. Let Him grow that faith through the storms of life.
Beth Warlick, 2/6/2009
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