Mark 4:35-41: For fishermen like Andrew, Peter, James and John storms on the Sea of Galilee wouldn’t have been uncommon. However this time the disciples of Jesus found themselves in the storm of their life with an unstoppable surge of water coming into their boat. They feared for their lives! When we face trials and testing in our lives how often do we find ourselves panicked, frantically bailing water out of the sinking boat? All the disciples could see were waves and water filling their boat, for a moment they may have even forgotten that the Master was there with them. It’s a classic scene of the disciples life that gets repeated time after time. In the panic of the situation we forget that Jesus is actually there in the storm with us and the only requirement for us to make it through is faith. This is exactly the comment Jesus made to His disciples after He had calmed the storm. “Why were you afraid? Don’t you have any faith?”
That question of having “any” faith must have cut deep in their hearts and it obviously stayed with them because it shows up in the Gospels of Matthew (Mt. 8:23-27) and Luke (Lk. 8:22-25). That was a hard question for them to hear when they had just come through one of the most terrifying moments in their life. The moment had been an intense struggle against waves that seemed to be unstoppable, but Jesus had thrown it all back on them when He asked if they had any faith to stand against the storm! Their thoughts were certainly in the vain of “how was that even possible?” or “what, my faith against that storm! What are expecting of me?” The end result is the realization that this man, Jesus, they were following was much more than a Rabbi, teacher, that did good and brought healing to the sick. “Even the wind and the waves obey him!” (Mark 4:41) The natural elements were obedient to him too!
But what about in our lives? When we face trials and testing in our lives how often do we find ourselves panicked, frantically baling water out of the sinking boast? All but forgetting that Jesus is in the boat too, and this time He’s not even asleep on a pillow, He dwells within us and is always attentive to our every situation. God’s Word tells us that He “understands every weakness of ours, because he was tempted in every way that we are.” (CEV)(Hebrew 4:15) Jesus himself said “I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.” (John 14:20) All that Jesus requires of us is that we have faith, even small faith (Matt. 17:19-20) is sufficient to do incredible things in His name.
So when you feel yourself in the storm, now or in the future, know that Jesus is their and all that is required is a very small but authentic amount of faith to face the trial. Storms were common for those men however Jesus had expected them to have already acquired a level of faith from their experiences with Him that would have brought them through this situation. He did rebuke them but only after dealing with the storm. We need to learn and grow just like the disciples so that next time our faith will stand up to the storm we face. Discipline and correction are not hallmarks of our culture today but they are part of the Christian life allowing us to grow to maturity (Heb. 12:8-10).
Face the storm then, stand against it in faith and let the Father teach you and bring you to a new level of maturity!