37And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. 38But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”
39Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. 40But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?”
41And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!” (Mark 4:36-41 NKJV)
As much as I like to read this passage and think about how foolish the disciples must have looked to Jesus, I'm sure I could come up with more than a few scenerios where I'm the one wearing the dunce hat.
Reading this passage actually made me think of a question: what would the appropriate response have been from the disciples?
In college I rowed on a crew team that made this scenerio easily relatable for me. In our 8-person shell with a coxswain in the front it didn't take much to literally rock our boat. We'd talk about it on a daily basis in fact! "Who's off to port because I couldn't get my oar out of the water?" Daily.
I remember being in the boat while waves in the heart of Lake Union crashed against our long, thin boat in the dark of the early morning and I'd laughingly think, "God, don't you care that we're sinking?"
So. The disciples didn't respond as well as they could have, but what was it that Jesus said they lacked in all of it?
Faith.
I've been turning through the Gospels and reading about Jesus marveling and being moved with compassion at certain people's faith. Many of their responses to crises were similar: they had faith-filled statements and actions.
The leper in Mark 1: "If you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean."
The paralyzed man in Luke 5: "19 but they couldn't reach [Jesus] because of the crowd. So they went up to the roof and took off some tiles. Then they lowered the sick man on his mat down into the crowd, right in front of Jesus."
The woman with the flow of blood in Matthew 9 "She touched the fringe of [Jesus'] robe, for she thought,'If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.'"
Maybe the faith-filled response for the disciples could have been waking Jesus and instead of accusing him of enjoying their inevitable doom (been there). They could have said, "Lord, you can speak to the sea and command the storm to cease" and they could have been rewarded for their faith in that moment.
Now for us, what will our response be to our next crisis, however big or small? Will we flail and swear and scream and resort to calling through our phone book for an answer?
Or will we come to God with the faith that He not only will provide but also that He WANTS to provide for you.
I'm sure I'll have an opportunity within the hour to turn these words into a reality in my life. In faith I hope I'll turn towards my loving Savior and provider with faith.
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