Be still, my soul: The waves and winds still know His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below. Katharina von Schlegel
Two emails recently arrived on my computer within twelve hours of each other. They were from saints passing through serious storms with very ill children. The wind and waves were taking their toll. Have you been there? I have. In Mark 4:35-41, we learn that the Lord Jesus Christ and His disciples were suddenly surrounded by a great storm of wind and waves. As we view their dilemma, may this passage provide help and hope for fear-filled saints in the storms of life.
The Story’s Setting
The Lord had taught a large crowd a number of meaningful parables, but with His teaching finished, He sent them away. Turning to His disciples, He said, “Let us pass over unto the other side.” His teaching was needed there, where there was derangement, disease, and death. The disciples obliged and “they took Him as He was” (v. 36). To them, His request was a command and they immediately obeyed. The Scriptures add one statement that might initially seem almost unnecessary: “And there were also with Him other little ships.” The God of the elements wasn’t in those boats, but they would experience the gracious blessing of the Saviour because of their close proximity. Through history, unregenerate mankind who has refused to trust the Saviour has, nonetheless, benefited from His influence for good.
A Sudden Storm
In the warm evening breeze and gently-moving boat the weary Man, Jesus, fell asleep. As He rested on a cushion in the stern, cyclone-like winds swept through the gorge of the Galilee and furious waves broke over the boat.
The Lord and His disciples left the shore when evening came, likely sometime between 6 p.m. and darkness. As the evening of the day of God’s grace settles on us, the storms on life’s sea seem to increase. They could be storms within the family, the church, or place of employment. Each area has the potential to foster great storms. Fortunately, we can cry out for help from the One who travels through the storms of life in the boat of our lives. Aren’t you thankful He entered your boat on conversion’s day? He is now available for your call, whenever the need arises.
The Psalmist writes of God’s willingness to help in Psalm 50:15: “Call upon Me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me.” What a comfort to saints in a storm!
Still the storm raged. Still the Master slept. Often our storms are unexpected. They may be announced by a doctor as he describes the recently-discovered signs of a dreaded disease. The shrill ring of a telephone may signal a great storm as the result of a serious accident. A note or a call may inform the recipient of another’s intention to break a relationship in—what was thought to be—a warm and sincere bond. The waves of heartache break over the distraught saint.
Supplicating Saints
In the tempest-driven waves, the disciples were alarmed. Their boat was filling with water and the Master slept. In desperation they cried, “Master, carest Thou not that we perish?” (v. 38). The wind and waves did not wake Him, but the urgent cry of His fearful children did. His response was immediate: “He arose, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, Peace be still” (v. 39). The humanity of Jesus is seen in verse 38, and His deity flashes forth in verse 39.
“Carest Thou not that we perish?” they cried. What a question! Did He care? He had left His Father’s glory-circled throne to become the virgin-born Son of Man and to eventually die for them! He most assuredly cared! I wonder if Peter was in that boat, and if the experience added emphasis to his words of 1 Peter 5:7, “Casting all your cares upon Him; for He careth for you.” What comfort for storm-tossed believers!
Mark tells us “the boat was now full” (v. 37). Troubled saints have often felt their little boat full—they could take no more. They have said with David, “From the end of the earth will I cry unto Thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I” (Ps. 61:2). Isaiah said, “A man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest” (Isa. 32:2). Our covert from the storm is “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and forever” (Heb. 13:8).
A Serene Scene
The disciples thought He was sleeping, but the God of Israel “neither slumbers nor sleeps” (Ps. 121:4). Their cry wakened Him and, rebuking the wind, He said to the sea, “Peace, be still.” The voice of God was heard as He censured the wind with the words from the original text, “Be muzzled and stay that way.” The words of the Psalmist strengthen and encourage us. “Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, Thou stillest them” (Ps. 89:9). At His command the wind ceased, or fell back exhausted in weariness. He had stilled the wind. Then, with a similar decree, He ordered the sea, “Peace be still” (v. 39). “He gave to the sea its decree, that it should not pass His command” (Prov. 8:29). He had spoken these elements into being at creation’s dawning. Now creation once again heard the Creator’s voice and obeyed. Dear storm-tossed saint, He is still in control. Job, in his storm, said, “He knoweth the way that I take: when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold” (Job 23:10). What a prospect!
The Lord desired His disciples to learn lessons from the wind and sea. So, with patient pity, He asked, “Have ye no faith?” Prior to their leaving the shore He had said, “Let us go over to the other side.” He did not say, “Let us go to the bottom.” Sadly, their faith was like ours. He dealt more gently with them than they had with Him. They suggested that He had an uncaring attitude that might result in their perishing. His care was deeper than the sea and His word declared, “As the Father pitieth His children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear [revere] Him” (Ps. 103:13).
The disciples were amazed. One moment they were in “a great storm” (v. 37) and the next they were in “a great calm” (v. 39). The voice of their great God and Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, had made the difference. His voice still calms storms. Pray for it. Listen for it.
The narrative draws to a close as the disciples ask each other, “What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?” W.E. Vine tells us the original wording: “From what country has this man come that even the wind and the waves obey Him?” From what country had He come? He had come from heaven to be born in Bethlehem’s manger, to live a perfect life, to die as our substitute, to rise victorious from the grave, and to ascend triumphantly to His Father’s throne.
How thrilling to know He is there today, caring for His own. I believe saints in a storm are the special object of His love. The writer of the Hebrew epistle reminds us, “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted [tested] like as we are, yet without sin” (Heb 4:15). As He sits upon the throne, He is touched by our infirmities (diseases or weakness). He is with you in your storm-tossed boat. I pray you will also see the great storm become a great calm.
One moment they were in “a great storm” and the next they were in “a great calm.”