12-01-2022

Good Morning All,

      Mark 4:41; “And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey him?”

    Have you ever had an experience in life that left you completely flabbergasted?  So completely stunned you didn’t know how to react.  The internet is full of short videos showing small children walking through traffic and being just missed by surprised motorist.  It shows people standing by a store when a car comes careening out of control and hits the building a few feet from them.  There is the video of some kayakers on the ocean when a large humpback whale propels itself out of the water just a few feet from them.  Perhaps you were in the service and a bomb exploded close by.  I have had a few “did you see that?” moments but not any that would rise to the level of what our disciples in today’s verse saw.

     Our verse is the end of one of the more familiar stories in the Bible.  Jesus is asleep in the back of the boat when a huge storm comes up.  The disciples, for the most part, are professional fishermen; they knew this lake like most of you farmers know your own land.  They had experienced storms and weathered them out.  For this storm to put fear into them must have been a whopper of a storm. 

     They cried out to Jesus, “Teacher, don’t you care if we die?”  He stood up and told the wind and the waves to be still; when it occurred, they were filled with great fear.  You wonder what they were expecting.  Did they just want Jesus to pray or to be as afraid as they were?  Did they want and expect him to stop the wind?  If this is what they wanted, if this is what they prayed for; why were they so amazed that it happened?  And why are we?

     During this phase of the disciples’ lives, they were trying to follow Jesus based on their own understanding of who God is and who the Messiah would be.  At this time, they didn’t fully understand who Jesus really was.  It is not until after the resurrection and Pentecost when “their minds were opened” and they “received the Holy Spirit” that they understood what was going on and gave them the courage to live their lives in complete devotion to the spread of the Gospel of Jesus.  They received faith.

     We have that same faith.  We have the Spirit dwelling richly in us.  We can call to Jesus at any time; asking him to save us from whatever storm in our life we are facing.  When he does this, why are we surprised?  I think the sad truth is most Christians don’t really think prayer works.  Most Christians view prayer as a good luck charm, or some type of desperate “last chance, I’ve tried everything else” action.  Going to God should be the first thing not the last thing we do.  We shouldn’t go to God with the attitude of “Well God, I’ve done all I can do, I guess the rest is up to you.”  This is a prayer that lacks faith. 

     We need to go to God with all the confidence that a child goes to their parent for all good gifts.  God is faithful to His Word.  God has promised to hear and answer the faithful prayer; we don’t need to be surprised.

Dear Father, all too often we are slow to trust you and to take you at your word.  We place our limitations on your grace, and we end up losing your blessings in the end.  We are truly sorry for our lack of faith.  Continue to mold us into the disciples that you want us to be.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s peace,

Pastor Bret