12-26-2019

Good Morning All, 

                Mark 4:41; “They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

     I remember a conversation that I had with a friend.  He was hiking through the woods in the Black Hills Forest.  He was following a path when he came upon a nest of baby rattlesnakes.  He was afraid of what might be.  Not knowing if momma rattler was around, he gave the spot a wide berth.  The problem that occurred was that when he returned to the path; it was the wrong path.  Soon he was very lost, and it was getting very dark.  He was now terrified.  Not sure what to do, he climbed one more hill and saw a highway.  He went to the highway and waited for a ride back to his car.  He was a long way from where he wanted to be but eventually, he made it home.

    Our verse comes from the story of Jesus calming the storm.  As Jesus slept in the back of the boat, a storm raged.  While it raged, the disciples were afraid.  These were experienced professional fishermen; they knew this lake like they knew the back of their hand.  This storm frightened them.  They may have had thoughts of going missing until broken parts of the ship washed up and maybe a couple of the bodies were recovered.  They were so frightened that they finally got brave enough to wake Jesus.  He rose up and rebuked the wind and the waves the way a mother rebukes her young rambunctious children.

    The disciples looked at each other and now they were terrified!  They had never witnessed anything like this in their life.  They had just watched Jesus still the wind and the wave with just his spoken word.  This was totally beyond their understanding or even imagination and they were terrified.  They were terrified because this was an entirely new experience.

    Does the thought of this unimaginable power frighten you?  The power to create everything with the spoken word, the power to stop the sun in the sky, the power to shake mountains, the power to overcome death, all things that might terrify us.  It should terrify you, for you are a sinner.  Yet in what is the most amazing twist in human history, we can take comfort in this fact.

    Jesus showed his love for you by his death and resurrection and now all that power is directed to giving us life.  All the chaos that makes up our lives, all the havoc-bringing storms in our lives are subject to his power.  All the trials in our life are under his power.  We have nothing to fear but God Himself and he has promised to love you and to never let you out of his loving embrace.  Our Savior, our Redeemer is not a powerless wimp.  He is not helpless, or absent or uncaring.  Regardless of what we feel; Jesus is in control of our out of control life.

Gracious Lord, you speak, and the wind and the waves obey you.  We know that you are in control of our life as well.  Give us the peace that comes from trusting in your amazing love.  In your precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret