My Boat is so Small, and the Sea is So Wide

Mark 4:35-41

Have you ever been in a natural disaster?  I have memories of true fear while driving through a  whiteout in northern Ohio.....my husband and college-age son swam too far out in the Atlantic Ocean and had to be rescued by the lifeguard as I helplessly watched from the shore....I have memories of the Great Blizzard of 1978  We had just moved to Ohio from Boston, and we thought we could handle snowy winters.  But that blizzard was frightening - more than 50 Ohioans were killed.....snowdrifts were 6 feet deep.....power outages occurred in sub-zero temperatures.....it seemed that nature was out of control.

The disciples were experiencing something like this when they were in a boat with Jesus.  "A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped." They were understandably frightened, so  they woke Jesus up and berated him, saying, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?"

But when Jesus woke up, how did he change their situation?  Do you think they expected him to 'rebuke the wind" and say to the waves "Quiet!  Be still!"  I doubt it.  I bet they thought he would skillfully steer the boat to shore. 

In fact, the last verse of our passage confirms that:  They were terrified and asked each other, "Who is this?  Even the wind and the waves obey him!" (v. 41)

What was more terrifying, the choppy seas and the gale-force wind, or the fact that Jesus calmed the storm with just a few words?  Our savior is mighty.  He is God.  He is not a meek, mild savior.  He is all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-loving.

When the storms in our life come, and they will, let's ask God to help us, and let's rejoice when he does.  And let's be looking for the ways, small and large, that he enters our world and gives us peace - not the world's peace, but the peace of knowing that He will never leave us.