Faith or Fear?
Then he asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
Mark 4:40
What are you afraid of? Spiders? Heights? Public Speaking? We all harbor fears deep inside that sometimes bubble up into our lives. Jesus provides a solution to these fears if we will just let him.
In Mark 4, Jesus and the disciples are on the water in a small fishing boat when a real storm hits them. This is a storm that threatens to sink their boat. What is Jesus doing? Sleeping. He is obviously not concerned about the situation. He is in control. But the disciples don’t really understand that. They are afraid for their very lives and the teacher they are following and supporting is asleep at the wheel, so to speak. Ever felt like that? Have you been in a situation where you felt your world was spinning out of control due to disease, relationship issues, or perhaps just plain old worry about things you cannot control like climate change, world hunger, or the economy for example? It is easy to forget in times of trouble who is in the boat with us. The disciples got into the boat with Jesus. They left everything behind to follow this man-God. They knew he was special. But when the storm showed up, they got nervous. They pushed the red button. They let their fears overcome their faith and began to panic.
Yes, the disciples finally woke Jesus and asked if cared if they were going to drown. Think about it. The disciples asked Jesus 1- if he cared and 2- they assumed they would drown. Mark did not record them saying “please save us Jesus” or “go ahead and sleep, we know we’re okay.” They were afraid for their lives and asked the Son of God if he cared about them. They assumed they would die on the sea that night drowned by the storm. Ever been there too? When was the last time you were truly afraid for your life? Did you pray for God’s help? Did you wonder if He cares about you? Faith is the ultimate solution to fear.
I’ve jumped out of 57 perfectly good airplanes in my life. I would not have done that unless I was sure my parachute would open and I would be safe. Sometimes in life we need to jump out and do things we are not sure about knowing God will take care of us. That is called faith. We take a new job. We start a family. We go on a mission trip knowing God will provide. Faith overcomes fear. We should go to God and ask for His help knowing that He will take care of us. Sometimes that care means returning to the head office where we will live with Him forever, but that’s what God provides. Did you know that all parachutists have two parachutes when they jump out of an airplane? If the main chute does not open for some reason, then the reserve is there to get you safely to the ground. God provides for us similarly. He is there as our main chute in this life and the reserve gets us safely into heaven.
Do we have faith in an all powerful God who takes care of us here and forever? This is the faith we need to overcome all of our fears and worries of life.
Remember, “with God in charge, what could go wrong?”
Scripture: Mark 4:35-41
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