Lord of the Storm

Lord of the Storm

SCRIPTURE:

That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 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?”

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

OBSERVATION:

After a long session of teaching, the Lord tells his disciples to go over to the other side of the Lake of Galilee, leaving the crowd behind. Exhausted after His long discourse, the Lord quickly falls asleep. Although the trip across by boat would have taken only about less than 2 hours, the Lake was quickly beset by a furious storm. Due to the surrounding topography, torrents of wind rushing down the mountain passes occasionally would stir up a furious storm with raging waves at very short notice, threatening the small boats on the lake. With waves swamping the boat, the disciples were in great fear for their lives, and quickly woke Jesus and cried to Him for help. “Teacher, don’t you care that we are drowning?” (Mark 4:38) “Lord, save us, we are perishing.” (Matthew 8:25)  

But the Lord simply stood up and rebuked the wind and the waves “Quiet! Be still!”, or more literally “Shut up! Be muzzled!” as if asking a dog to be quiet. Turning to His disciples, the Lord then chastised them for being afraid and faithless. The disciples were absolutely terrified, asking each other “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey Him?”

APPLICATION:

Even the wind and the waves obeyed Him!  Through this incident, the Lord showed His disciples His absolute divinity, His completely authority not only over demons and diseases but also over nature itself. He showed them beyond all doubt that He is truly God. Just as in the time of Moses when God showed His awesome power over nature in the plagues that befell Egypt, He now showed His awesome power over nature through His Son Jesus Christ.

For us today, the storms are a symbol of great troubles that may fall upon our lives at various intervals. These storms may come in the form of economic troubles or natural disaster, family problems or sickness and disease. Whatever the storm, whatever the troubles, the Lord calls us to not be afraid, but to have faith in Him, to trust in Him and believe that He will deliver us. No matter what happens, God is in control, and we must hold on to that, and believe in Him who called us to be His own.

It is interesting that Mark also records that there were other boats on the lake of Galilee. The people in those boats were also saved at the same time when Jesus saved His disciples. There is a lesson here for us that when we are following the Lord and seeing His deliverance and reality in our lives, there will be others in our vicinity who will be impacted and may even be saved. Therefore it is so important for us to be on the watch for others whom we come across as we live life so that we may also point them towards the Lord who saves us!

PRAYER:

We worship You and bless You and praise You, precious Lord Jesus, Lord even of the storm. May we fix our eyes on You and put our full trust in You no matter what storms life may bring us. Deliver us and those around us we pray, even as we continue to follow You, our precious Lord and Savior. In Jesus name, Amen.

Disciple or Onlooker?

SCRIPTURE:

With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything. Mark 4:33-34

OBSERVATION:

One of the most beautiful things about the teachings of Jesus was that He used parables, stories and illustrations from everyday life. And Mark writes that Jesus spoke to them as much as they could understand. Observing the daily goings on about Him, Jesus used simple, common things that the people were familiar with to speak forth great spiritual truths to the common people, who were thrilled at hearing Him speak and gathered around Him in great crowds. To farmers, He would speak of sowing seed in the field. To widows, He would speak of searching for a lost coin. To fishermen, He would speak of sorting out good and bad fish.

Beautiful though His words were, what the Lord said did not make a big impact on most of the people in the crowd. Majority of them would have come to be entertained, to feed their curiosity, to come and see what this new teacher was all about. The Lord did not explain many deep things to them.

In contrast, the Lord’s attitude was very different with His own disciples, with whom He explained everything, in deep detail.

APPLICATION:

What is the difference between a disciple and an onlooker? An onlooker may come to church to tickle his ears, to enjoy some good music, but otherwise goes back and lives life how he pleases without serious thought to the calling of the Lord. A disciple, on the other hand, is someone committed to the Lord, who is interested to live life the way that pleases Him, and abstain from ways that do not please Him. The early Christians, were called followers of the Way. They were committed to follow the Way of Christ and follow His teachings as much as they could. There was no such thing as a Sunday Christian happy to keep his supposed “ticket to Heaven”, and do the bare minimum to give some semblance of his faith.

To the serious disciple who is willing to be committed to Him, the Lord reveals more and more as he seeks to please Him. I was once an onlooker till God showed me the error of my ways. May the precious Lord help all of us become true disciples and stay true disciples in following Him. 

PRAYER:

Dear Lord, help us be disciples we pray, with hearts yearning to follow You. Show us the error of our ways, and reveal to us the path to be true. In Jesus name, Amen.