Calm In The Storm

When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Silence! Be still!” Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm.

Mark 4:39

Sometimes a promise comes as a demonstration. In this scene, Jesus demonstrates that no power of any kind can keep him from his stated goal.

This event opens with Jesus making a statement: “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake” (Mark 4:35). Those are the words that set the disciples in motion. Jesus clued them in to his intention—to go to the other side of the lake.

Later, when their faith had matured and the Holy Spirit had come to empower them by living in them, they would understand that if Jesus said he was taking them to the other side of the lake, that is where they would end up. They headed out in response to his direction and found themselves almost overwhelmed by a storm. But it was the direction of Jesus—“Let’s cross to the other side of the lake”—that could have been their focus, rather than the storm that threatened to blow them off course.

When following Jesus leads me into the eye of a fierce storm, I’ve learned to think through some questions: (1) What did Jesus say in the beginning that launched me? (2) Could the same Jesus whose words the winds obeyed when the storm was at its peak have prevented the storm before it started? (3) If he could have headed off the storm but instead stays with me in the boat, what can I deduce from that?

When the storm hits, I can let worry and fear take charge of the rigging, or I can steer straight for the shore, knowing that I’m just passing through the storm. In this incident, the storm was so immaterial to Jesus’ goal that he slept deeply while it raged. I can learn to rest with Jesus when I’m in the middle of a storm. Don’t let a storm draw you in.

Jesus, remind me that no storm can take you off course. Just like Job, I know that you can do all things and your plan cannot be thwarted.

Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empties today of its strength.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon(1834–1892), English preacher and writer