Skip to main content

Where is God when times get tough?


Mark 4:35-41 (NLT)
35 As evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.” 



Faith is based upon something.  Jesus said that they were all going across the lake.  The disciples should have based their faith upon what Jesus had said.  


36 So they took Jesus in the boat and started out, leaving the crowds behind (although other boats followed). 
37 But soon a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water.






You can be in the center of the will of God, and the journey can get tough. 







38 Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. 




Faith doesn't fret.  Jesus was in the same ship as they were, but he was relaxed and asleep.  




The disciples woke him up, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?”




Our minds must be on what God has said and not our situations.  The disciples questioned Jesus's love.  




39 When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Silence! Be still!” 




Jesus spoke to things like the wind and the waves.  Not just to people.  Speak to what comes against you if you have heard from God first.  




Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm. 
40 Then he asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”


They had taken their focus off who they had in the boat, and had put their thoughts on their circumstances.  Jesus expected them to have faith in Him during the storm.   They failed to remember what Jesus had said.  




41 The disciples were absolutely terrified. “Who is this man?” they asked each other. “Even the wind and waves obey him!”




Still His disciples didn't get it.  They didn't place their faith in God.   




Keith Moore, Faith Life Church


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dan Dehaan's Metro Bible Study

In the late 1970s, I attended an interdenominational Bible Study called “the Metro Bible Study” in Metro Atlanta, which began as a Small Group in “Dad” Charles Ellis’ basement. It was taught by Dan Dehaan, and eventually outgrew Dad Ellis’ basement by moving to the Griffin Middle School.  When I first started attending, it had grown to 300 teenagers who meet ever Tuesday night and featured Contemporary Christian Music played by “The Pat Terry Group”.  As the Metro Bible Study continued rapid growth, they eventually moved to the First Baptist Church of Smyrna, Georgia where it peaked around 1200 attendees.  In the summer of 1982, Dan Dehaan died in a plane crash and teacher John Riley took over. Under John Riley, the Bible Study grew to about 1,500 after eventually moving to Mt. Paran Church of God. When I was first invited to the “Metro Bible Study”, I didn’t go to hear Dan Dehaan teach because I didn’t know who he was.  What I went to hear...
2 comments
Read more

Remembering Names

In one of my previous jobs, I was required by my employer to attend a Dale Carnegie public speaking course. (See  www.dalecarnegie.com  for more information).   The class had about 40 to 50 attendees, and the instructor began the course by teaching us how to remember each other’s name.  After each person got up, they would tell us his or her name, where they worked, and what things they like to do. As each person spoke, we were supposed to remember each person, by associating their names by what they told us.   The first assignment of the class was to get up and say each person’s name from memory.  We had to remember from memory EVERYONE’S NAME!  As each attendee was called upon to stand up and say everyone’s name, it served as a review for everyone else in the class.  Amazingly, every attendee was about to quote everyone else’s name from memory including me.  To this day when I see someone from the cla...
Post a Comment
Read more

In Trouble?

What do we do in the middle of trouble? Do I trust God when I don't understand? That's the situation the captives found themselves in, and this was God's response. Jeremiah 29:4-11  (NLT) 4  This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says to all the captives he has exiled to Babylon from Jerusalem: 5  “Build homes, and plan to stay. Plant gardens, and eat the food they produce.   6  Marry and have children. Then find spouses for them so that you may have many grandchildren. Multiply! Do not dwindle away!  7  And work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare.” 8  This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let your prophets and fortune-tellers who are with you in the land of Babylon trick you. Do not listen to their dreams...
1 comment
Read more