Daily devotional · August 20
Asleep in the Boat
“When that evening came, He said to His disciples, “Let us cross to the other side.” After they had dismissed the crowd, they took Jesus with them, since He was already in the boat. And there were other boats with Him. Soon a violent windstorm came up, and the waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was being swamped. But Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on the cushion. So they woke Him and said, “Teacher, don’t You care that we are perishing?” Then Jesus got up and rebuked the wind and the sea. “Silence!” He commanded. “Be still!” And the wind died down, and it was perfectly calm. “Why are you so afraid?” He asked. “Do you still have no faith?” Overwhelmed with fear, they asked one another, “Who is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?””
A sudden storm hits the lake, waves fill the boat, and the disciples panic. Jesus is in the stern, asleep on a cushion. They wake him with an accusation: do you not care that we are perishing? He calms the wind with a word and asks why they were so afraid. Notice that the disciples had not been abandoned; they were in the boat with him all along. It felt like he was absent because he was quiet. Read Mark 4:38 and recognize your own version of that question. Faith does not deny the storm. It brings the storm to Jesus and then discovers that he is bigger than it. The disciples end up afraid in a new way, in awe of who he is. Today, tell Jesus one specific fear plainly, even if it sounds like a complaint, and listen for his peace.
Also read
“But Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on the cushion. So they woke Him and said, “Teacher, don’t You care that we are perishing?””
Mark 4:38
Prayer
Jesus, when the storm rages and you seem silent, remind me that you are in my boat. Speak peace to my fear.