Even when it seems that Jesus is “sleeping” in your boat, He is still with you and for you.
Before Jesus walked on the water, there was another storm on the Sea of Galilee—one both chilling and thrilling. Here is the hardest part of that account, from Mark 4: “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” (v. 38, emphasis added).
The disciples believed they were about to drown in this “furious squall,” and Jesus is asleep? Do you ever wonder about that? The disciples must have experienced some serious confusion here. How tired is he? Does he really not know what’s happening here?
Sometimes it seems that Jesus “sleeps” through some of our cyclones as well, especially when they go on for years. How do we understand this?
There’s a precious truth here we cannot miss. Yes, Jesus is fully God. That day, before they crossed the sea, Jesus had spent the entire day teaching a massive crowd the words of God. But he is also fully man. He spent himself completely for the thousands who gathered to hear him. He slept in that pitching boat because he had given all his strength.
Jesus came as one of us! He took on our flesh and blood and lived under the same conditions as we do. He was hungry, thirsty, exhausted. Jesus was literally in the same boat as us. He knows us. He understands the frailty of our flesh, the limits of our bodies and souls.
That night, in that sea crossing, Jesus was “in the same boat” as the twelve frightened men. When the disciples finally woke Jesus and questioned his care, he responded by questioning their faith. Why did he chide them for having such small faith? Because Jesus was with them. He didn’t leave the boat. Neither will he abandon you. Ever.
The disciple who suffered more imprisonments, beatings, and persecution than any of the other disciples knew about this. Even through the worst afflictions, Paul knew that Jesus was always with him, and that Jesus loved him completely. He wrote:
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? . . .
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35–39)
Knowing that Jesus is with us strengthens our faith and faith leads to peace. Whatever storm you’re in right now, Jesus is with you in it. Nothing can remove either his presence or his love for you.
Don’t Wait to Call on Jesus.
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. (Mark 4:37–39)
Those twelve terrified men tried to fight that storm by themselves. All they had was their arms and oars against a violent sea. They didn’t wake Jesus when the waves grew high. They didn’t wake him when the water covered their feet in the boat. They waited until they were sure they would drown before they awakened Jesus. Of course. Because they thought they could save themselves. Isn’t this our human nature, that we want to be strong and self-sufficient? We want to rescue ourselves?
When we’re in a storm, we can easily be like these twelve who thought they were doing right by not waking Jesus. But our silence, our pride, and our self-sufficiency only prolong and deepen our suffering, making the threat worse. King David wrote in Psalm 32, “For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long” (v. 3). While David was lamenting his delay in confessing his sin, the point is the same: waiting to come to God only worsens and lengthens our suffering.
It’s easy for us to judge those twelve men, wondering why they waited so long. But remember, they didn’t know the ending of the story as we do. They were still living the story. They were still learning who Jesus was.
The disciples waited, too, because they didn’t yet really know who Jesus was. I have a suspicion that they awakened him so he could take a turn at the oars. They certainly did not expect him to shout down the wind and seas! Their surprise was too genuine to think they expected a miracle, at least a miracle of that size. But by waiting they suffered longer than they needed to. By the time they finally awakened him, they were sure he no longer loved them: “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” they asked (mark 4:38).
Don’t wait until your boat is about to sink to call on Jesus. He is with you always, even before the wind rises. Call on him continually. And consider, like King David, if there is sin in your life that needs to be confessed. In the same Psalm as above David writes:
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.”
And you forgave the guilt of my sin.” (psalm 32:5)
David’s storm of fear and guilt ended when he called out and confessed his sins. The second half of his psalm is a triumphant song of confidence and praise. He urges all of us to pray to the Lord now that we may be saved from the stormy waters:
Therefore let all the faithful pray to you while you may be found; surely the rising of the mighty waters will not reach them.
You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance. (vv. 6–7)
Call out to Jesus today, now. Let him hear you and respond.
Even if our boat sinks and we go under, we’re still safe.
When the three of us were in that storm and the boat was sinking lower and lower in the angry seas, I was frightened. But I wasn’t truly scared until my husband leaned down and said into my ear, “Leslie, if we don’t make it, I want you to know I love you!” I began to panic then, looking around at the wind and waves, just like Peter did before he began to sink.
Then, just as suddenly I remembered this truth that shone over the dark waves: no matter what happened, even if we should die, we were safe. All three of us in that struggling boat knew Jesus. We knew he was with us. We knew that even death would not separate us from our Savior. We knew, in fact, that should we die, we would be safe with Him. I was not ready to die that day, and I knew I would fight it with every bit of strength I had, but I held on to that hope like a life preserver.
The disciples in both storms were not safe, however, because they didn’t yet know who Jesus was. I believe Jesus rescued them both times not just to save them from death, but to save them from a worst fate: from unbelief.
In this life, we know we’re not always healed. Not everyone is saved from cancer. Not every car misses the collision. Not every sickness ends. Not every sinking boat is righted. Death often appears to be the worst of all possible outcomes. But it’s not. Our real enemy is not that which kills the body, but that which kills the soul. It is sin, alienation from God, that destroys the soul. “For the wages of sin is death, and the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (romans 6:23).
Jesus’s death on the cross has already calmed the one storm we cannot survive: the storm of sin and death. Jesus has overcome the evil one. He has died to pay the price of all our sin. If we trust Jesus, when our bodies die, as someday they must, we move to the fullest life possible:
For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
“Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”
(1 Corinthians 15:55–57)
Do you know who Jesus is? Do you know he is the God over heaven and earth who has come for you? He has come to end the storm of sin and death in your life. When we confess our wrongdoings against God and choose to follow Jesus instead of ourselves, the storm is calmed. No matter what happens, we are safe. For always.
This article adapted from Clinging to Hope in the Storm, a Discovery Series resource from Our Daily Bread Ministries. To read the full content or to order free copies of this booklet, click the link or the banner below.
