I don’t know about you, but I like things to go smoothly in my life. I don’t like bad surprises or unexpected difficulties.
A couple of years ago my daughter called me from college. I answered the phone, and in a rather stressed voice she said, “Dad, my car is really loud!” I had no idea what she meant, so I asked her for more details. She explained further, “My car! It’s really loud!” She has about as much automotive knowledge as I have. And I have about as much automotive knowledge as a doorknob. So after evaluating all of the facts and thinking through all possible explanations, I gave her some expert advice: “Call a tow truck.” Several minutes later, she called me again to tell me that the tow truck driver wanted to talk to me. I thought that was kind of unusual. The driver said, “Sir, the reason your car is so loud is that someone stole your catalytic converter. You have no muffler.”
What? Someone had gotten under her car and cut out her exhaust system, all in the hopes of selling the catalytic converter. It turns out these are very valuable because of the precious metals they contain. So in the middle of a busy day, I had to stop what I was doing, contact my insurance company, find a reputable repair shop, and coordinate getting a replacement converter. And through it all, I was thinking, “Of all the cars in that town, why did they have to mess with mine?”
I hate to admit it but, like I said, I don’t like unexpected difficulties. I like it much better when everything goes smoothly. Right now, though, the entire planet is facing an unexpected difficulty. Things are not going smoothly. In fact, things are really bad for a lot of people. You could call what we’re going through a “storm.”
One day Jesus taught a crowd of people while he was standing in a boat. After he finished teaching, Jesus looked at his disciples and said, “Let’s go to the other side of the lake.” So they set out in the boat to cross the lake:
So they took Jesus in the boat and started out, leaving the crowds behind (although other boats followed). But soon a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water. Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke him up, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?” (Mark 4:36-41 NLT)
Here’s the picture – Jesus and the disciples are in a boat, and suddenly a large, and very deadly, storm comes up. Waves are crashing, the boat is rocking, and there is a very real possibility that the boat will sink and they will all drown. Through all of this, Jesus is sound asleep. The disciples yelled at Jesus to wake him up, and they asked him a question: “Don’t you even care?”
Today as sickness spreads, lives are lost, families are in mourning, jobs disappear, the economy is in shambles, and people are afraid, how many of us have asked over the last few weeks, “Jesus, don’t you even care?”
The truth is that Jesus does care, he cares deeply. And he’s also in complete control. Look what happens next in our story:
When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Silence! Be still!” Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm. Then he asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” (Mark 4:39-40)
Let those two questions penetrate your soul: Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?
If you’re a believer and you’re afraid and your faith is shaky, Jesus is saying to you today, “You’ve seen my power in your life. You’ve watched me do incredible things. You’ve felt my peace and my love and my healing and my strength, over and over again. Where is your faith?”
I don’t want to act the way the disciples acted in this story. I don’t want to freak out, with no hope, wondering if Jesus even cares what happens to me and my loved ones. The fact is that the storm of COVID-19 didn’t take God by surprise. He is as much in control of the coronavirus as he was in control of the wind and waves that day on the lake.
And he does care about you. He cares deeply, more than you can even comprehend. So with those truths in mind, how does God want us to handle storms like this? When you come face to face with circumstances that you can’t control and that create fear and panic and very real harm, how do you live through that?
I’m going to be talking about that in the next few blog posts. There’s just too much to say in one post. But for now, know that there are three things you can do: you can pray, you can worship, and you can trust.
Until next time…