Mark 4 Devotional

Asleep in the Storm

“Overwhelmed with fear, they asked one another, “Who is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?””Mark 4:41 (BSB)

On the same day Jesus teaches that the kingdom grows like seed, by a power the farmer does not supply or understand (4:26-29), his disciples are caught in a storm that is swamping their boat. Jesus is asleep on a cushion in the stern. They wake him with an accusation: does he not care that they are about to die (4:38)?

He gets up, rebukes the wind, and commands the sea to be still, and everything goes completely calm (4:39). The disciples end the night more afraid than they began, asking one another who this man is (4:41). The psalms had already answered. It is the LORD who calms the storm to a whisper and hushes the waves (Psalm 107:29). The man asleep in the boat is doing what only God does. His sleep was never a sign that he did not care, and the storm was never outside his command. When God's silence tempts you to read it as indifference, you can remember who was in the boat.

To think about: In what storm right now are you reading the quiet of Jesus as a lack of care?