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. (Mark 4:39)
No doubt about it, there will be times in life when you feel that Jesus has abandoned you. More often than not, this feeling occurs when you’re going through some kind of crisis. The Apostles understood what this felt like as they were overcome by a large storm. Even though many of them were experienced fishermen, however, they somehow knew that the sleeping carpenter’s son could help them. So they woke him up.
Here’s what I wrote in Give Up Worry For Good…
Feelings aren’t facts. You may feel Jesus has abandoned you, but he hasn’t. He might be sleeping, but he is still with you. Go ahead and wake him up. Tell him exactly how you feel. Be honest and don’t hold back. Above all, ask him to help you with the storm that’s swamping your boat. Jesus might be able to sleep through a storm, but he can’t sleep through the cries of his beloved disciples. Oh, and by the way, about that “not caring” accusation . . . looks as if he really did care about them after all. That’s why he saved them from the storm.
You may feel that your problem is unsolvable, but that isn’t true. Jesus can still the storm in your life, but you may have to wake Him up. Do it! Pretending to be asleep is one of the ways He helps us to grow in faith. When Jesus woke up and stilled the storm, the men in the boat were “filled with awe, and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey him?'” (Mark 4:41) They learned a lesson about His power that day. We can learn the same lesson if we give Him a chance to still our storms too.
Let not your heart be troubled!
~Gary
