And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. Mark 4:39
Do you ever have days when you wake up on the wrong side of the bed? You know what I mean, right? Days when it seems that from the moment your foot hits the floor almost everything goes wrong. You stub your little toe on the way to the bathroom and as you’re bouncing up and down on one foot trying not to cry, your other foot lands on your little sister’s Lego (if you’ve never stepped on a Lego before, let me tell you from experience that it hurts!). Then you finally make it into the bathroom, look in the mirror and there in the very center of your forehead is an enormous zit. “Great,” you think, “maybe I should just go back to bed.”
Now, of course, these are small, funny examples of bad things that happen to us. But often we experience things that are much harder. And when bad things do happen, one of the questions that probably comes into your mind is, “Doesn’t God care about me? If he does, then why is he letting bad things happen? Why doesn’t he just make it all perfect right now?!?”
You know what? Jesus’ disciples asked that exact same question. You may know that many of his disciples were fishermen, and one day they were all in a boat on the Sea of Galilee when a huge storm erupted. This storm was so bad that they believed they were going to die. And while they were running around screaming, it’s like someone said, “Hey, where is Jesus?” And do you know where he was? He was asleep! How could he sleep through all of this? And they yelled at him, “Don’t you care that we are about to die?”
See, they were afraid that Jesus didn’t care. But guess how Jesus responded. He got up from his nap, walked to the edge of the boat in the middle of that raging storm and spoke to the wind and the waves, “Be quiet!” And you know what? It became instantly still. Dead calm. And it says that the disciples where then afraid of Jesus because he can control the wind and the waves!
So, here’s the thing: if Jesus can control the wind and waves then why did he let the storm happen in the first place? We don’t know for sure, but we do know that Jesus loved his disciples dearly. We also know that the storm was part of his plan. In other words, just because there is a ‘storm’ in your life doesn’t mean Jesus doesn’t care. Instead, it means he is active and at work, and our best response is to trust him.
Instead of whispering to yourself, “He must not care if he would let _________ happen to me,” talk directly to him and ask, “What are you trying to teach me through this? Will you help me to trust you even in the middle of this storm?” He loves you, he does care, and he is always at work. Because of that, you can believe him when he says, “Do not be afraid!”
Feb 12, 2014 by Tim
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Don't You Care About Us?
Do you ever have days when you wake up on the wrong side of the bed? You know what I mean, right? Days when it seems that from the moment your foot hits the floor almost everything goes wrong. You stub your little toe on the way to the bathroom and as you’re bouncing up and down on one foot trying not to cry, your other foot lands on your little sister’s Lego (if you’ve never stepped on a Lego before, let me tell you from experience that it hurts!). Then you finally make it into the bathroom, look in the mirror and there in the very center of your forehead is an enormous zit. “Great,” you think, “maybe I should just go back to bed.”
Now, of course, these are small, funny examples of bad things that happen to us. But often we experience things that are much harder. And when bad things do happen, one of the questions that probably comes into your mind is, “Doesn’t God care about me? If he does, then why is he letting bad things happen? Why doesn’t he just make it all perfect right now?!?”
You know what? Jesus’ disciples asked that exact same question. You may know that many of his disciples were fishermen, and one day they were all in a boat on the Sea of Galilee when a huge storm erupted. This storm was so bad that they believed they were going to die. And while they were running around screaming, it’s like someone said, “Hey, where is Jesus?” And do you know where he was? He was asleep! How could he sleep through all of this? And they yelled at him, “Don’t you care that we are about to die?”
See, they were afraid that Jesus didn’t care. But guess how Jesus responded. He got up from his nap, walked to the edge of the boat in the middle of that raging storm and spoke to the wind and the waves, “Be quiet!” And you know what? It became instantly still. Dead calm. And it says that the disciples where then afraid of Jesus because he can control the wind and the waves!
So, here’s the thing: if Jesus can control the wind and waves then why did he let the storm happen in the first place? We don’t know for sure, but we do know that Jesus loved his disciples dearly. We also know that the storm was part of his plan. In other words, just because there is a ‘storm’ in your life doesn’t mean Jesus doesn’t care. Instead, it means he is active and at work, and our best response is to trust him.
Instead of whispering to yourself, “He must not care if he would let _________ happen to me,” talk directly to him and ask, “What are you trying to teach me through this? Will you help me to trust you even in the middle of this storm?” He loves you, he does care, and he is always at work. Because of that, you can believe him when he says, “Do not be afraid!”