PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Mark 4:35-43
What do you sense the Lord saying to you in this passage?
“Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion.” (Mark 4:38)
Jesus is quiet and still, and the disciples are worried and upset.
Jesus is low in the boat, and the disciples are struggling and scrambling.
A friend recently told me a good way to keep a boat from tipping.
He said to lay low in the boat, to lower your center of gravity.
Is Jesus resting in the stern a symbol for me as to where I need to go in the storm?
This is just an analogy, but I do think it is apt for many of us.
Like the disciples, we become desperate and frantic, and make the risk greater.
Do our attempts to save ourselves only threaten us more?
What if in our hearts we lay low, quiet ourselves with Jesus and rest in and with him?
In this posture of humility and grace, we can trust the Jesus Way of surviving the storm.
Jesus does care if we drown, but he asks us to trust him, to be quiet and still!
Mary kneeled at Jesus’s feet while Martha was distracted, worried and upset (Luke 10:41).
Jesus reminds me of the one thing needed: ‘quiet, be still, and rest in me in this storm!’
PRAYER
Lord, one thing is needed, whether in quiet or stormy waters, and that is to lay low and rest in you! You do care, and you will get me through this storm!
In my mind I know that Jesus is with me in ‘my boat’ – I trust that He is – but sometimes I don’t know about myself – I can get anxious. Forgive me: “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” Lord help me to trust in you more nearly every day – as I continue down life’s journey – I can only travel with you – I don’t dare travel alone. You are my protector – with you I am safe from the storms of life!
Come to Jesus.
He is the Saviour now.
At all times I need to trust Him – in my joys and in my sorrows – come to Jesus. He is the answer. He is the One Who can give comfort and hope. The storms of life show who were really are. They display who God really is. The storms of life teach us more about God and ourselves. Learn from them.
1 Jesus, Savior, pilot me,
Over life’s tempestuous sea:
Unknown waves before me roll,
Hiding rocks and treach’rous shoal;
Chart and compass come from Thee–
Jesus, Savior, pilot me!
2 As a mother stills her child,
Thou canst hush the ocean wild;
Boist’rous waves obey Thy will
When Thou say’st to them, “Be still!”
Wondrous Sov’reign of the sea,
Jesus, Savior, pilot me!
3 When at last I near the shore,
And the fearful breakers roar
‘Twixt me and the peaceful rest–
Then, while leaning on Thy breast,
May I hear Thee say to me,
“Fear not– I will pilot thee!”