Jesus Calms The Storm
Mark 4:35-41
35 On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” 36 And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. 37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. 38 But he 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?” 39 And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40 He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” 41 And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
We are all struggling with navigating adult life. As Christian, we are expected to pray and seek God during hardships. However, Sean found himself seeking his own understanding and not God during this time. He has 6 and 2 years old sons. When they went camping recently, many people brought their own cleaner to clean the water because the water isn’t safe in the heat, but Sean didn’t. Instead of letting his sons play in the lake, he decided to let the family play in the pool park. It was beautiful in the first 30 minutes but after that Daniel started putting water in his mouth and splashing water. He asked Daniel not to do that first time and his son said “okay.” However Daniel continued doing the same thing and when Sean asked Daniel to stop, Daniel responded ‘it looks clean.’ When Sean had to remind Daniel the third time, he disclosed some details about the unclean water thinking it would teach him a lesson but Daniel cried and said ‘i don’t want to die, can you pray for me, can Jesus save me, what if Jesus don’t save me?’ Sean prayed and calmed down. When his son cried and was afraid for his life, Sean saw a glimpse of himself. Daniel decided to trust his own judgment first by looking at the water, then He decided to trust his father and not with his own eyes (‘the water is clean’) and this reminds Sean of his relationship with God.
Just when Sean was content with his work, he encountered unexpected changes, Sean was worried and he couldn’t sleep for many weeks. His cousin, who is his mentor and his business partner, decided to part away next year, Sean was devastated because he relies on his cousin leading the business and he thinks he has to start everything again by himself. When he was 24 years old started this business, he was healthy, young, and financially stable but now he has two sons, his wife just got cancer, he has a mortgage, and his debt is piling up. With all of these worries, he was hopeless and afraid he couldn’t afford all of this. He prayed and cried out to God during EMP that ‘save me Lord I think I am going to die.’ He thought he was all alone in his problem and no one cared. This continued to be the theme for a month: reading God’s word but can’t apply and him going through the motions.
After being worried about his future for a month, his head cleared up a bit when God put words in Sean’s head ‘why are you crying? Why do you think you are going to die? I am with you.’ He finally had peace in his heart and his mind was racing with the thought that he might be rich or his business would take off, but after meditating on Mark 4:35-41 he changed and learned from his reading.
In Mark 4:35-41, Jesus asked his disciples to get on a boat and go across to the other side knowing this is very dangerous. His disciples were hesitant because they knew it was not safe, but Jesus was ahead of them and told them to come to him. When Jesus was asleep, a great storm came and his disciples were afraid they were going to die. They woke Jesus up and asked if Jesus cared about their lives. Jesus said ‘Peace, be still’ and the storm disappeared. He asked his disciples ‘why are you so afraid, have you still no faith?’
Sometimes, God closes the doors to protect us from dangerous situations. However, sometimes He allows it to happen to teach us a lesson and because He is ahead of us and knows what is going to happen. Same goes to Sean, he often tries to protect his sons from dangerous things in the world but sometimes, he lets his sons live and experience to teach them lessons. Sean does not let go of his children and let them do whatever they would like. He is always ahead of them whenever they need him.
It is reasonable for the disciples to be afraid because they were still new in their journey with Jesus. Moreover, they were in the middle of the oceans with a big storm. Saying ‘do you not care that we are perishing?’ is different from ‘Lord save me.’ It was hard for the disciples to see if Jesus cared for their lives in the middle of the storm. Similarly, when we go through hardships, it is hard for us to see and believe in God’s goodness, love, and care.
So what does God want Sean to do during this time? Or Does Sean want God to do certain things to his life? We tend to seek God by looking for keywords in the Bible to feel comfort, talking to certain people to hear what we want to hear, and to pray for what we hope to be given to us. But we don’t seek God.
Why did God rebuke his disciples? Faith is to believe in God regardless of what we are going through and our circumstances. At this time of suffering, our feelings often take the lead but we cannot rely on our feelings. It is easy to know what he is right and what he ought to do when we are fine, but when things get overwhelming, we doubt His goodness. We should not make ourselves the main point of the test. Instead of focusing on our situation, we should trust him. If we feel like we fail, remember that his disciples also did. This is a journey, we need to be honest with our faith and to see how much trust we have in Jesus.
Reflection Question:
Reflect on Sean’s testimony, what is your take away?
