Trust in Storms

Mark 4:39

"He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, 'Quiet! Be still!' Then the wind died down and it was completely calm."

Some storms can be rescheduled, but the storms that shake a life usually cannot. Mother's Day can make the storms loud: the empty chair, the mom you miss, the child you worry about, the motherhood that did not look the way you thought it would.

We Are Escape Artists

When the storm hits, our first instinct is to find an exit. The old question is: how do I get out of this boat?

Mark 4:35-41

"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!'"

This Is Chaos vs. Creator

Mark is showing more than bad weather; he is showing Jesus standing over chaos itself.

• The Sea of Galilee is known for sudden, violent squalls.
• For the Jewish reader, the sea was where chaos lived.
• Biblical backdrop: Genesis 1, Daniel's beasts from the sea, and the Psalms' roaring waters.

"Teacher, Don't You Care If We Drown?"

That question is the prayer of every honest believer in a storm.

• The disciples were fishermen, and even they were panicking.
• Jesus was asleep on a cushion while the boat was filling with water.
• Under the question is the assumption: if you loved me, this would not be happening.

"Quiet! Be Still!"

Jesus speaks, and the storm obeys him instantly.

• He does not use a staff, magic words, or an incantation.
• The wind dies down, and the sea becomes completely calm.
• The chaos lays down before the Creator.

Before Jesus Calmed the Storm, They Were Afraid. After He Calmed It, They Were Terrified.

Jesus is not controllable, but he is good.

• The storm was uncontrollable, and then they learned Jesus was too.
• He sleeps when they panic and lets the boat nearly sink before he moves.
• The storm has power, but it does not love them. Jesus has infinitely more power, and he loves them infinitely.

What Am I Holding Onto?

The right question is not how to escape, but what to reach for.

• Faith is grabbing the branch because you are falling, and it is stronger than you are.
• In a storm, you will reach for something: control, numbness, guilt, or Jesus.
• Reach for Jesus. He is the branch. He is stronger than the fall, and he is not going to break.

"He Isn't Safe. But He's Good."

Jesus may not do what we can control, but he will always be who we can trust.

• He loves his people and lets them go through storms, because he is God and we are not.
• His wisdom is bigger than our boat.

Application

When the wind picks up, stop asking only how to get out of the boat. Ask what you are holding onto, and reach for Jesus. He is not safe in the sense that he can be managed, but he is good, he loves you, and he is strong enough for whatever you are walking into Monday morning.

Jesus doesn't always calm the storm. Sometimes he calms you in it.

Sermon Resources

"The gospel is that God connects to you not on the basis of what you've done (or haven't done) but on the basis of what Jesus has done, in history, for you. And that makes it absolutely different from every other religion or philosophy. The gospel isn't advice: It's the good news that you don't need to earn your way to God; Jesus has already done it for you. And it's a gift that you receive by sheer grace-through God's thoroughly unmerited favor. If you seize that gift and keep holding on to it, then Jesus's call won't draw you into fanaticism or moderation. You will be passionate to make Jesus your absolute goal and priority, to orbit around him..."

"The cross is the intersection where God meets humanity. Saving confession is not predicated on prior knowledge, proximity to Jesus, or privilege; it is, rather, an act of faith in a divinely revealed act of atonement. The centurion's confession is the saving proclamation of the church, for it is the convergence point of Mark's two major themes: the meaning of Jesus and the meaning of faith. The Son of God, on whom rests the unique blessing and love of the Father, chooses not to exalt himself but to follow a path of servanthood, indeed of vicarious suffering and death, so that through the cross the world might acknowledge him to be the Son and with him share free and joyful access to the Father."

"The truth was there to see, though it would take some time, and more miracles, for them to process it: All power belongs to him! Paul would later explain this in his Colossian hymn: he is the Creator: 'For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities' (1:16). All things were created by him. Every speck of cosmic dust in the universe is his creation - everything! He is the Sustainer: 'He is before all things, and in him all things hold together' (1:17). Scientists spend thousands of hours every year plumbing this mystery. He is the atomic glue of the universe. He is the Goal: '[A]ll things were created by him and for him' (1:16b). He is Creator, Sustainer, Goal, and Savior of the soul!"

"Either he's a wicked liar or a crazy person and you should have nothing to do with him, or he is who he says he is and your whole life has to revolve around him and you have to throw everything at his feet and say, 'Command me.' Or do you live in that misty 'world in between' that Wright says no one can live in with integrity? Do you pray to Jesus when you're in trouble, and otherwise mostly ignore him because you get busy? Either Jesus can't hear you because he's not who he says he is-or if he is who he says he is, he must become the still point of your turning world, the center around which your entire life revolves."

"Jesus doesn't always calm the storm. Sometimes he calms you in it."