Thursday; October 22
One of the fascinating stories from the life of Jesus was how He was able to calm the storm on the sea. If you aren’t familiar with the story, Jesus and His disciples were on the water in a boat when a tempest arose. One interesting thing is that as the disciples were fretting, Jesus was sleeping. Yet, the most amazing feat was when Jesus calmed the storm with a simple, “Hush, be still”. While this is cool, I think there is one other interesting observation, “Jesus Himself 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?’” (Mark 4:38). While it is easy to be critical of the disciples – to their credit – they hadn’t read the outcome of the story. As I reflected on this challenging time, I can imagine me responding with something like, “Of course I care, I just didn’t think it was that big of a deal.”. Thankfully for the disciples I wasn’t in the boat … and Jesus was able to calm the storm!
When I think about our anxiety, I wonder if something similar could be imagined today? We wonder if God actually cares about us only to come to realize that our life’s challenges really pale in comparison to the power He has. As the Supreme Ruler of the world, our struggles really aren’t overwhelming to Him. All we need to find peace is to have faith that He cares and that He is in control!
Think About It!