I have many parenting moments that I’m not proud of, but one of my worst mom-fails happened as I slept. My daughter was frightened in the middle of the night and came to my room to wake me up. She shook my shoulder and said my name, but I kept snoozing. My neglected little girl eventually gave up and went back to bed.
As I read Mark 4, I wonder if the disciples felt a little bit like my daughter that day on the Sea of Galilee. They were scared, and Jesus was sleeping.
“On that day, when evening had come, [Jesus] said to [his disciples], ‘Let us go across to the other side.’ And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’” (Mark 4:35–38)
Let’s pretend we never heard this story in Sunday school, and we don’t know what the next verses say. (We’ll get to them next week.) What does this passage teach us about being in the middle of the storm of suffering?
When the waves are crashing over the side of your boat and it’s filling with water, it’s doesn’t mean Jesus has abandoned you. Jesus was right there with the disciples, and He’s right here with you.
If it seems like Jesus is sleeping while you suffer, it’s not because He doesn’t care. It’s because He cares about you that He’s waiting for the perfect time to calm the storm. As we’ll see next week, He always has a purpose to His timing, even when we can’t understand it. And in the meantime, you can trust that He is with you.
No matter what you face this week, Jesus is with you in the storm of your suffering.
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