CALMING THE STORM

“A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. But Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, ‘Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?’ Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace, be still!’ And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. But He said to them, ‘Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?’ And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, ‘Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!’”  (Mark 4: 37-41 NKJV)

Two thousand years ago, predicting the weather was a crapshoot. A few well-worn aphorisms were everyone’s best guess. “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky in the morning, sailor take warning.” Of course, even with the aid of weather satellites, our best forecasts still feel like a fifty-fifty coin flip at times. We may understand Mother Nature better now than we ever have, but she is still as powerful and unpredictable as ever.

We use reinforced concrete to protect ourselves against earthquakes and storm shutters to safeguard against hurricanes, but we still cannot control the weather. All we can do is talk about it when there is nothing else to talk about. But there is One who commands the wind and rebukes the waves. The One who turned water into wine also turned the Sea of Galilee into a sea of glass. The One who created the heavens and the earth with four words can quell any squall with just three words: “Peace, be still.” 

-- Mark Batterson in “The Grave Robber: How Jesus Can Make Your Impossible Possible” 

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