I recently did some painting based on what I was reading that day. It was a time in history when 13 guys were in a boat in a large body of water and a huge storm caught them off guard and the rain came down so hard and fast, the guys couldn’t get it out fast enough so water was filling their boat.
And one of the guys slept through the boat rocking high and low, thunder, guys yelling at each other so they could be heard because the wind was roaring and the rain beating on the boat like a loud drum. Until a few of the guys hollered at the One sleeping, “Hey! Do you not care that we’re about to drown?!”
Drown in despair, fear, stress, the worries of this world.
The guy that was sleeping, Jesus, woke up and told the wind and rain to stop. And they did. This makes me think: Jesus didn’t tell his disciples to stop worrying. He didn’t tell them to stop questioning him. He didn’t tell them to stop getting rid of what it was that made them sink.
Instead, he instructed the circumstance to stop. Maybe God allowed that storm to happen so the guys could see with their own eyes the reality of who Jesus says he is. God in the form of a man.
Today circumstantial storms unexpectantly dump those same worries on us and cause us to call out, “Hey! Do you not care that I’m experiencing right now?!” He still wants us to holler out to him when we’re upset. He still wants us to question him when we wonder if he’s really who he says he is. He still wants us to call out his name asking him to stop what’s happening.
And he just might respond in a way you least expect it – in a way you never imagined. It might not be instantly, like he immediately told the wind and rain to stop, but that was their circumstance. We all have our own; each situation is different. But God is always the same. Trustworthy. Teacher. Truth.
If you feel like he’s asleep, call out his name. Jesus! That should help calm your storm and then when you least expect it, something will happen to make you “be overwhelmed with awe.” (Mark 4:41)