"YOUR FAITH WILL CARRY YOU"

Posted on March 1,2011 @ focusontheheart.org
Hope for the Heart page archives

Have you ever had a really great day when everything went better than you had planned? You had your time alone with God and your day was productive from the standpoint of accomplishing your goals; you felt so good that you couldn't help humming or singing a tune in the car on the way home. Then it happened!


Suddenly out of the blue, you get a phone call with bad news or you suddenly realize you've lost something very important; or someone dear to you gets hurt; or someone you care about disappoints you! This is a really good time to do a faith check! It is at this moment that we will usually either panic or stay calm. The faith that you have in Christ will make the difference at a time like this!

The disciples found themselves in just one of those moments in chapter four of Mark when their ship had filled with water in verse thirty-seven.

"And there arose a great storm of wind,(like a hurricane) and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full."

I could see in this passage that the ship is now full of water and Jesus was asleep on a pillow in the back part of the ship. The disciples had ran around in a panic before they went and woke Him up from His rest. Jesus had been teaching and healing people all day long and the disciples needed Him to do something to save them. Let's take a look at what they said to Him.

"And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, "Master, care thou not that we perish?" ~ Mark 4:38

We see in this verse that they addressed Jesus as their Master, which in the Greek means "teacher". Those guys were afraid that their end was near and they would soon be sucked up by the sea! They needed someone to give them a plan of action; a "master" plan, so to speak.

Yes, I believe that these men were pretty much in a state of panic and they wanted Jesus to either come up with a solution or to at least, panic with them!

They asked Him, "Don't you care that we are going to die?". Their understanding was blurred by the circumstances and they were past the reasoning and understanding that they were on a ship in a storm with the Son of God! The same One who had spent days and weeks teaching them about the power of faith and exercising this faith in many different ways.

Can you imagine a team of men in a large ship and the waves are crashing over the deck and filling the ship up faster than they can bail it out? Imagine the wind tossing their boat in every direction and the rain beating down on them as they bail faster and faster to keep the boat afloat.
They have been battling this storm for maybe an hour or more and they're loosing the battle. The boat is quickly sinking under the added weight of the water on board. They probably could hear the boards of the ship beginning to creak and move under the stress and they felt as though there was no hope for survival.

Finally, in this moment of total despair, I imagine someone shouted out,"Wake up Jesus!".

When we read what happens next, it is very clear to me that they didn't wake Jesus up for the purpose of stopping the storm. They didn't wake Him with the purpose of delivering them from the circumstances either, as they believed that they were going to die. I believe they were really upset that Jesus was sleeping and they were all bailing water and they just couldn't stand to let Jesus rest so peacefully while they were fighting for their lives! They acted as though they felt that the calm, peaceful sleep that Jesus was experiencing was a sign that He didn't care about them. They had forgotten all the lessons that Jesus had taught them about the battles and struggles of life's difficulties and they were acting purely on human instinct!

How many times do we do this very thing when something catches us by surprise? Do we feel we should battle our way through it and wait until we are about to sink before we run to get help from our Lord? Why do we wait? Some people will tell us that we should do all we can and that God expects that from us, but I believe that too many times we wait until our boat is full of water before we will call out in prayer!
What do you think would have happened if the disciples had woke Jesus when the storm began? Would this have been a good sign that their faith in Him was strong? Would Jesus have responded to their faith earlier in the storm? I feel sure He would have and we see this in the next passages that follow. Let's look at the next two verses together,


And He(Jesus) arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, "Peace, be still". And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And he said unto them, "Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?" ~ Mark 4:39,40

The same power and authority that we see displayed here when Jesus spoke to the wind and the sea was also available to those pitiful, scared disciples already! Earlier in this passage written by Mark, the disciples were given the power to perform miracles by faith. Jesus had taken them up onto a mountain and ordained them to preach the gospel and to heal the sick and to cast out devils! Jesus had told them that they could ask anything if they had faith. (Even moving mountains!) Faith is a powerful thing to have and to understand! We excuse our lack of the power of faith in our lives many times by counting ourselves weak and vulnerable as humans. That isn't what Jesus wanted for His children as messengers to the rest of the world.
To Be Continued....