Scripture
Text: (MK 4:35-41)
On that day, as evening drew on, Jesus
said to his disciples:
“Let us cross to the other side.”
Leaving the crowd, they took Jesus
with them in the boat just as he was.
And other boats were with him.
A violent squall came up and waves
were breaking over the boat,
so that it was already filling up.
Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a
cushion.
They woke him and said to him,
“Teacher, do you not care that we are
perishing?”
He woke up,
rebuked the wind,
and said to the sea, “Quiet! Be
still!”
The wind ceased and there was great
calm.
Then he asked them, “Why are you
terrified?
Do you not yet have faith?”
They were filled with great awe and
said to one another,
“Who then is this whom even wind and
sea obey?”
Where were you when we needed you?
Like the disciples, perhaps you also
feel that you have been kept waiting too long for God to respond in your life.
It may seem like Jesus is asleep at the helm, deaf to your cries. You may even
want to rebuke him for taking so long!
When it comes right down to it we all
want good things to happen in our lives, but too often we want it now...not
later. When it doesn't happen that way, we are tempted to ask, "When, God,
when?" Most of us need to grow in the area of trusting God instead of
focusing on the "when" question. If you're missing joy and peace,
you're not trusting God. If your mind feels worn out all the time, you're not
trusting God.
God wants us to live by discernment
and providence, not head knowledge. It's difficult to exercise
discernment if you're always trying to figure out everything. But when you're
willing to say, "God, I can't figure this out, so I'm going to trust You.”
That mindset will give us peace," then we can be comfortable in spite of
not knowing. Trusting God often requires not knowing how God is going to
accomplish what needs to be done and not knowing when He will do it. We often
say God is never late, but generally He isn't early either. Why? Because He
uses times of waiting to stretch our faith in Him and to bring about change and
growth in our lives.
Here's the point: What's important for
us to know is that there is certain timing to what the Lord does--and I might
add; His timing is usually not our timing. Isa 55:8-9, "For my thoughts
are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as
the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways,
and my thoughts than your thoughts."
Though we may not understand God’s
timing, we should be glad that He sometimes makes us wait before He accomplishes
His will in our lives. There are reasons for the way God works in our lives and
for what He does on our behalf.
Keep on praying, confident that Jesus
never passes by anyone in a storm. He has his own timing, wisdom, and plans.
In the familiar story “Footprints in
the Sand,” a writer dreams about walking along the beach with the Lord, making
two sets of footprints that merge into one during life’s most trying times. “Why,
when I need you most,” the author asks God, “have you not been there for me?”
God answers, “The times when you have seen only one set of footprints is when I
carried you.”
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