Reading

• Matt. 8:18-22; Luke 9:57-62
• Mark 4:35-41
• Mark 5:1-43
• Matt. 9:27-34
• Mark 6:1-6a

Devotional

³⁵ That day when evening came, [Jesus] said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” ³⁶ Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. ³⁷ A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. ³⁸ Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”

³⁹ He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. ⁴⁰ He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” ⁴¹ They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”
(Mark 4:35-41 NIV)

Jesus’ disciples were afraid because it looked certain that the waves were going to cover over the boat and sink them. The situation was very scary, and they went to the One they knew could do something to help. But when they went to Jesus, they didn’t show any faith in Him. They asked Jesus a pointed question: “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” In other words, “We’re obviously about to die here, Jesus. Don’t you care about this?” Of course Jesus cared. But the point is that Jesus was there and, when Jesus is with us everything is going to be okay.

We all have these scary, stormy situations at times in our lives. Jesus has promised that He will always be with us and never leave us, so it’s just like we’re on the boat with the waves crashing over and Jesus is in the bottom of the boat asleep. But Jesus always knows what is happening. He is not a clueless, irresponsible man sleeping below. He’s fully aware and He loves us, therefore we need to wait on Him to deliver us from the stormy, scary situation.