These days, I am learning that God's promise to you will always come to fact no matter how difficult our situation may be in getting there. Faith occurs between the revelation and the destination for faith is no longer required when you have arrived. When reading Mark this week, we discovered an interesting point worth identifying in the story of Jesus calming the storm (4:35-41).
The question asked was "Why did Jesus think that the disciples had no faith?" The obvious answer would be that they questioned whether Jesus would let them drown (4:38). But the faith issue in this story is not that they did not believe in the power of Jesus to save them, but that they did not trust in His original statement that indicated that they would make it to the other side.
Think about it... Why would Jesus tell them that they have no faith if the disciples themselves went to Jesus in the time of need. If I was Jesus I would have said "Good boys! In times of distress you came to me because you had faith that I could calm the storm". But that was not the issue. Jesus was not concerned with the fact that the disciples came to him in the midst of a difficult situation, he was concerned about their faith in making it to the other side.
If the disciples believed they would make it to the other side, the storm wouldn't have even initiated a fear within them to begin with. Although there is an element of faith in acknowledging that God can calm our storm, there is a greater faith in the fearless assurance that whether the sea appears calm or chaotic, God will bring you to the other side. If God instills a dream in your heart, it will come to pass no matter how hard it is for you to get there. Therefore pure faith would have no reason to wake Jesus up.
We can wake him up to talk about how uncomfortable it is row the boat with wet underwear, or to ask him which direction to go because the waves have made us go off course, but there is no need to inquire whether we will drown or make it to the other side. That question is irrelevant to one who is certain about God's original statement that they would get there.
My buddy David summed this thought up nicely by stating that it is the difference between believing that God CAN and believing that God WILL. We all know that God CAN calm the storm, CAN bless our finances, CAN heal our sickness, and CAN mend our relationships, but we need not fear that he WILL bring us across the sea, WILL give us what we need, WILL be our strength when we feel weak, WILL give us the community that fits. God is faithful and his promises in our life will never be swayed no matter what the situations.
May we trust enough to fear not, row on and let You sleep.
1 comment:
Nice. It's not about dependence in Christ but about confidence in Christ. As Oswald Chambers book reminded me, when the seas of troubles and crises rise, do we lose our mind and frantically call out for Christ? Or are we able to go to the breaking point in our lives and not break our confidence in Christ?
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