“Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace, be still!’ And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.” (Mark 4:39)
“And a great windstorm arose” (4:37), a storm so threatening that the disciples asked their sleeping Master if He did not care that they perished. Some of life’s storms come upon us suddenly. These storms could be job loss, family illness or death, financial difficulties, accidents, or a pandemic. In the midst of a storm, we are often scared and cry out to God and pray earnestly. If God does not give any apparent response or delays His help, we may wonder does Jesus care? With great fear, the disciples woke Jesus up and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” (4:38) In our distress, we sometimes may ask a similar question, “Lord, do You not care my grief and my difficulty? I need Your help now.”
Jesus’ reply was: “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” (4:40) Jesus rebuked their little faith in light of the fact that He had commanded the trip across the Sea of Galilee and was with them on the boat. We know God is with us because we have His Spirit within us – the indwelling Holy Spirit. We also have His promises. We can find many promises in the Bible that He is with us. He promised in John 16: 33, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” So why are we still so afraid of life’s storms knowing that it is in the storm that God equips us for service?
Then He arose from His sleep and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. Although they had seen demons cast out and diseases healed, the disciples still perceived Jesus as a prophet only. Witnessing His supernatural power over nature, they responded amongst themselves in fear, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!” (4:41) What emotions must have flowed as they pondered if their Master indeed was God Himself! They changed their fear of the worldly storm to godly fear.
When we cannot hold on the security of this world, we must hold on to our faith. Faith must endure all trials. We must trust when all else fails. When it is hopeless, remember what Jesus told Jairus, the father of the dead girl, “Don’t be afraid; just believe” (Mark 5:36). No matter how big a storm may be, whether it is on the Sea of Galilee or a personal struggle that is too heavy to carry, we must remember…if we believe, we may find that peace by calling on Jesus who rebuked the storm and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!”