Quiet! Be still!

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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. They woke him and said to him, "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 them, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?"
~ Mark 4: 37-40

Those poor disciples. How often they must have felt like pure idiots? How often did Jesus feel like he was a babysitter?

Whenever I think of real patience I think of Christ. There is an old saying, "Beware the anger of a patient man."

I don't know about you, but there is no way on earth, or in heaven in this case, that I could have been responsible for the disciples as Christ was. It's not me. I would have put them out on a lifeboat myself to see what kind of faith they truly possessed. 

But that's me. And that's why God sent Christ, because for any of us we would have lost it with this group. 

I have known many patient people in my life, but seriously. The Bible shares that God is slow to anger. God truly acts like a parent, because I have found that it would have to be the love of a parent to have been so patient with these folks. 

More and more I discover just how thankful I am that God is God and that I am not. 

The way that Jesus calms the seas. The way he reassures. The constant redirecting of his followers. The question of faith. All reminders of God's power, God's reassurance, and the simple fact that God will not allow for us to be tossed into the sea. 

Once again, I remind us, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to them, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?"

Stay in God's grip!

​G. Todd Williams (c) 2017

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Dear Lord, when the storms around me are all that I can see, help me to know that You are there to say, "Quiet, and be still..."

Today Lord, I will trust in You.  Amen.

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