Today’s Bible reading is Exodus 37-38, Psalm 32, and Mark 4. Our devotional is from Mark 4.
Jesus had taught parables throughout the day with crowds so large He was forced to launch out from the lakeshore where he sat in a boat while He taught. Exhausted from teaching, Jesus asked His disciples to cross the lake to the other shore, and lying down in the boat He slept.
The Sea of Galilee (14 miles long and 7 miles wide) is notorious for violent storms. Its surface 700 feet below sea level, the Sea of Galilee has a sub-tropical climate that is warm and pleasant year-round (much like our own Tampa Bay). Surrounded by the Galilean mountains and the Golan Heights, the Sea of Galilee is part of the Jordan rift. Cold winds from snow-covered mountain peaks to the north often push down through the hillsides that act as a funnel sending cold air colliding with the warm sub-tropical air of the Sea of Galilee causing sudden, violent storms.
We read of this occasion in the Gospel of Matthew: “there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but He was asleep” (Matthew 8:24).
At least four of the disciples were fisherman; however, even those veteran sailors were unable to salvage the desperate situation in which they found themselves. With cold winds whipping at the sailors and waves crashing into the ship, the exhausted disciples finally cried out, “Master, carest thou not that we perish?” (Mark 4:38).
Friend, like the stormy sea in today’s Bible reading, trials will arise in your life and put your faith and trust in God’s will to the test.
Before the disciples launched their ship out into the sea, Jesus knew an approaching storm would soon test their faith and whether or not they would put their trust in Him. By the way, notice Jesus did not lead them where He was not going and when the storm came He was with them!
A second observation: The disciples’ response to the storm revealed they did not know fully Who Jesus was! After Jesus commanded the wind and the waves to cease, we read: “they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?” (Mark 4:41).
The storm was an opportunity for the disciples to see Jesus as more than a mere mortal. Struck with fear, awe, and respect they ask, “What manner of man is this?”
Someone reading today’s devotion is in the midst of a storm of personal trials. Fear of the future has laid hold on your spirit and loneliness oppresses your soul. Take heart; the LORD is with you in the midst of the storm of uncertainty… “Peace, be still” (Mark 4:39).
Psalm 89:8-9– “8O Lord God of hosts….9Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them.”
Take a few minutes and listen to a wonderful song titled, “What Manner of This?”, written and performed by my evangelist friend Ben Everson.
Copyright 2019 – Travis D. Smith
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