God, the captain of life

That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!” Mark 4:35-41

From the text, we have the significant account of Christ subduing the forces of nature and transforming what appeared to be imminent tragedy into a triumph of faith. The turning point in the entire incident came when the disciples ceased to regard Christ as a passenger and called upon Him to be the pilot when He ceased to be cargo and became the captain of the vessel. But before they came to such realization, the Lord Jesus Christ rebuked them from their lack of faith, in v. 40; “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” The Lord Jesus Christ commands the disciples to “fear not” because God had become the “captain” of their lives and he was redemptively directing their affairs. Jesus is concerned about their lack of trust. These men have been with Him for some time; they have seen Him heal and perform other miracles; so where is their trust? By this time, they should have some trust in His power. Perhaps their trust is only in Jesus when they know and see that He is awake. Mark relates this story to us to build our trust in Jesus. We must trust in the One who commands the wind and sea. As we are nearing the return of Christ, individual Christians and His church will experience tremendous persecution. Even as the boat is guided safely through the storm, our struggling faith will be led safely. Jesus is there to restore calm and trust in the face of fear and death. Our lesson to learn is to trust. We should always be reminded about this truth so we could grow in our dependence and trust Him. Our fear of the present and the future can be dispersed when by faith we turn the control of our life over to Christ and allow Him to be the pilot and not simply a passenger in our life.

Blessings