“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?’ 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.” – Mark 4:38-39
If we’re honest, we’re like the disciples sometimes, aren’t we? The storms of life come, wind begins to blow fiercely, waves start crashing over the side, and we feel like we’re sinking. We’re overwhelmed, beyond our resources, and we begin to doubt. We question the goodness of Jesus. We question whether He’s paying attention. We question whether He’s present at all and whether He cares.
While the point of this story is to demonstrate Jesus’ absolute power over the most powerful and chaotic forces of nature, we should not miss its setting within a series of stories demonstrating His absolute power over everything natural and supernatural. Everything. Let us draw strength from the fact that He’s promised to always be with us until His physical return. Whatever storm we face, as Christians, Jesus is always in our boat.
Yes, it will storm sometimes. We may rightly hate the storms, but we’re reminded here that Jesus sometimes permits them for our own growth in faith. We’re reminded that what we think is a crisis isn’t always as serious as it seems, because Jesus is with us. We’re reminded that Jesus has complete power over the storms of our lives, so we can trust that He’ll accomplish His purpose for us, even through the fear and suffering. We can also trust that just as He has the power to calm any storm, He also has the power to calm us as He journeys with us through that storm. Many times, that’s even more important for our growth in Christ! Peace! Be still!