They were bailing for all they were worth, convinced that the next wave crashing over the boat would be the end. And as is so often the case, they waited until the very last moment to call on Me (Jesus). They thought prayer was a final resort, not a first instinct.
I had fallen asleep—not because I was indifferent, and not because I already knew the outcome of the voyage—but because the exhaustion of healing and encouraging hundreds of people over countless hours, caused a slumber so profound that it was difficult to rise.
Shouting and shaking finally broke through that exhaustion. I woke with the disorientation of a man pulled from the depths of desperately needed rest.
“What is it now? Can’t I have a moment of peace? This had better be important.” I groggily stood up on deck and took in the scene—the wind clawing at the sails, the waves rising like cliffs, and My disciples, wild‑eyed and terrified.
"Quiet!!" I bellowed more to their unbelieving hearts than the storm. "After all you have seen, do you have no faith at all?"
Silence. Calm. A sudden, absolute quiet that settled over sea and soul alike.
I looked at them, these men I loved, now standing speechless in the stillness they had begged for. “Now let Me rest,” I said, turning back toward the hold. “Let your hearts learn from what you have just seen.”
Am I as human as I am divine? Yes. Does Scripture come to us as sometimes no more than an outline so that we can put ourselves and our experiences into the story? Read a Bible story and imagine yourself inside of it -- participating in it. Can the outcomes be insightful and revealing?
Step into the boat with them and decide. It is not in trying but in trusting.
Mark 4:35–41 (also Matthew 8:23–27 and Luke 8:22–25)
With love beyond measure,
Jesus
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