Don’t You Care?

Date: 06-15-09

MARK 35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” 36Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” NIV We know the rest of the story.

First of all Jesus says, “Let us go over to the other side.” This is the same God who said ” Let there be light” and there was. They were going to the other side…it may have been under the water, over the water, or on top of the water…but they were going!

Secondly, Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. Now in the natural the stern, which is the rear of the boat, tends to be less bouncy than the bow of a boat. But even so, Jesus was sound asleep, in the midst of a raging storm, out in the middle of the sea…with grown men screaming for their lives! They were scared to death. The difference, Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world…there are no storms in His kingdom. (The place He has taught us to pray for) Therefore His peace remains. Faith in the Lord and believing for His kingdom to come and His will to be done brings peace which surpasses our natural understanding.

Third, the disciples cried out to Him saying, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” What a question to ask the Savior of the universe! It is for us that He came! When we find ourselves in seemingly desperate circumstances we can sometimes be led into a place of fear and unbelief, then becoming increasingly reliant on natural abilities and knowledge. What if God in His great mercy and seeing our dilemma chooses to allow it for a time? 1 Peter 1:7 says: Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it’s your faith, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of his victory.

In Psalm 139 David says, Where can I go to flee from Your Spirit? You are always there! There is nowhere we can go to escape His Spirit. As it has been said, if you cannot imagine yourself without Him, you might as well imagine yourself with Him where He is! IN HIS KINGDOM… Ephesians 2:6 says we have been raised up and seated in heavenly places with Christ! Pretty good place to be. Let’s live there. Let’s take a lost and dying world there with us. Let us go to the other side!

Finish well,

Tom Davis