Scripture: Mark 4:37 to 38 BSB
37 Soon a violent windstorm came up, and the waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was being swamped. 38 But Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on the cushion. So they woke Him and said, “Teacher, don’t You care that we are perishing?”
Apparently my right foot still believes that if I push hard enough on the passenger side floor of a car, eventually a brake pedal will appear. We have taught two of our kids to drive, a third is learning now, and I have spent a surprising amount of time trying to manifest a brake pedal. It has a zero percent success rate so far, but I’ll let you know.
We talked Sunday about why I do that. When something feels dangerous and I’m not in control, everything in me starts looking for a way to get control back. The disciples were doing something similar in Mark 4. Their danger is completely real. The boat is taking on water. Several of them know enough about boats to understand what is happening. Jesus does not shame them for noticing the storm, and He never tells them there was nothing to be afraid of.
Their fear eventually pushes them somewhere deeper. They wake Jesus and ask, “Teacher, don’t You care that we are perishing?” The storm has gone from being a weather problem to becoming evidence about Jesus. Jesus is asleep, so He must not care. It’s an obvious assumption, one that we would probably make in the same situation. Nevertheless, it’s an assumption.
I do this too. Something happens with my family, the church, money, the future, or the world around us, and somewhere along the way I move from, “I do not know what God is doing,” to, “God clearly is not doing what He should be doing.” Once I get there, I start searching for brake pedals.
Today, my challenge is pay attention to one place where you are trying to force control out of something you cannot control. Be honest about what is actually happening, then honestly admit the conclusion you have drawn about God because of it.