By: Gabriela Yareliz

Mark 4:35-41English Standard Version (ESV) 

Jesus Calms a Storm

35 On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” 36 And leaving the crowd, they took him [Jesus] with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him.37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. 38 But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” 39 And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.40 He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?”41 And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

I read this passage this morning. It was a typical day in the Hebrew mens’ lives. Walking with Jesus, getting the boat, and then, out of what seems like nowhere, a bizarre storm. I love that word, bizarre. It’s as odd as its definition.

A storm. A wild storm. A storm that threatened all they knew; including their very livelihood. They thought, this is it. It wasn’t it. 

You see, Jesus was in the boat with them. That didn’t mean the storm wasn’t raging, but it meant just that. They had Jesus with them. They had the One who made the stars and could make peace with a spoken word or silence, if He so desired.

Later today, I was reading the first chapters of The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, and there was an intense reminder of how we often make up scenarios and hypotheticals, and how we allow very real anxiety to blind us. We start looking at what we fear or what we fear will happen, and we forget to look at Jesus. We forget that the point is not the storm or the rocking boat. The focal point should be the fact that the Master is in our boat.

Think about whatever you have been stressing about or something that is blinding you and keeping you from focusing on God, the One who can overcome our fears, worry and pain.

Are you thinking about it? Great. Now, God is telling you to put that aside. He says, “Why are you still so afraid? Have you no faith?” (Mark 4:40).

It’s in these moments that we need to know where to look. Look at Him, and never look away. He loves you, and He will take care of you. 

Peace. Be still.