On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” 36And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. 37And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. 38But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” 39And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” 41And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” (Mark 4:35–41)
In this event, we can learn some great lessons from the attitudes of disciples:
- They seem to believe that Jesus is unaware how serious the danger is.
- They try to handle the situation on their own. (After all, as seasoned fishermen, they have sailed this lake all their lives and he is just a carpenter.)
- Their question is really an accusation. When they ask, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?, what they are really saying is: “If you really cared you would already be helping us.”
- They delay bringing him into the situation until things reach a crisis, and then blame Him for not being involved!
- We do know that Jesus tested his disciples to see what they will do (e.g. Jn. 6:5-6), so he may have taken a nap as he waited to see when they would finally turn to him for help.
This is very helpful because we do the very same kinds of things. We set out to do on our own what God has asked of us, and then some formidable or dangerous opposition rises against us. . . some crisis or catastrophe. So we fret and struggle against until we’re about to crash and burn. We think God doesn’t really know what’s going on; that he doesn’t care enough to get involved; and that it’s our responsibility to come up with a solution or to make things happen. And we can’t imagine any possible way that God could rescue us. Just like the disciples, we’re really treating God as our last resort. And even though we’ve been pushing him aside and trying to handle things on our own, when we finally cry out to God, we accuse him by asking: “How could God let this happen to me?”
God is not the problem, we are! In our hearts we say, “If God really loved me, he wouldn’t have let me get into this mess.” But from the story of the fishermen it seems that God’s reply would be something like: “No, that’s backwards! If you really loved and trusted me, you would have asked for my help first, before you started across the lake and while the waves were rising.”
If we can bring ourselves to relinquish our self-dependence and trust both His heart and his power, then God will become our first resort. And when he is, we will ask for his help and protection at the outset of our endeavors—long before the crises arise.