Sunday · Jun 7
Life’s Storms
Jesus spent the day talking to big crowds of people on the beach at the Sea of Galilee.
“That evening, Jesus said to his followers, ‘Come with me across the lake’ ” ( Mark 4:35 , ICB). Jesus knew a storm was coming. But He suggested they sail anyway. Jesus wanted to teach an important life lesson to His followers.
Read about the storm in Mark 4:35–41 . What lessons on faith does this story teach you?
Think about these four ideas from the story:
Jesus falls asleep on what may be the only pillow in the boat. The fishing boats in Jesus’ day often had one pillow. The driver of the boat sat on it in the back of the boat. The person in the back of the boat steered the boat to the place where they wanted to go. So, here is Jesus in the back of the boat, where the driver sat. But Jesus falls ‘asleep’ at the wheel.
Some of Jesus’ followers in the boat didn’t have much experience sailing. But Peter, James, and John were fisherman. They had a lot of experience sailing. They knew the Sea of Galilee very well. So, they knew how to sail in a storm.
Mark is the only writer who says that Jesus was sleeping. During this terrible storm, the followers are afraid they will die. Again, what is Jesus doing at this time? He’s asleep in the back of the boat.
The followers accuse Jesus during the storm. They say, “Don’t you care about us?” The followers doubt Jesus’ love for them. They think the worst about Him. Too often, we behave the same way during hard times.
When we feel hopeless, we often try to save ourselves (the same as Jesus’ followers in the storm). Sometimes when we feel pain or loss, we question God’s love and care. We want God to do certain things for us. We get upset when those things don’t happen. But God can work the biggest miracles during life’s ‘storms.’ We always can depend on Him, even when we can’t see Him at work. God is always in our ‘storms’ with us. He controls the storm when we can’t.
What do you do when the ‘storms’ of life come? Do the storms bring you closer to God in your heart? When did you live the Bible truth in 2 Corinthians 5:7 ?