Mark 4:35-41: That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” 36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”My Understanding: We all go through storms in life, i.e. life’s difficulties, trials, tribulations, sorrows, and times when we fear or are tempted to fear the results of those storms and the aftermath of the storms. We may not consciously think that Jesus is asleep at the wheel and that he is not paying attention to what is going on in our lives, but often our responses to what life throws at us says that we think Jesus is not aware of what is going on and/or that he is not handling the situation or is incapable of taking care of it, and so we worry or we try to take matters into our own hands. Yet, he is completely aware of what we are going through, he is very much in control, and he has allowed these difficulties in our lives to teach us, to grow us, to mature us, and to make us holy. So, when we begin to worry, fret, become anxious or dwell in our minds on the difficulties of this world, the Lord Jesus is saying to us, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” And, he says to those “waves” in our lives, “Quiet! Be still!” The disciples were amazed that even the wind and the waves obeyed the Lord Jesus. We must know that there are no winds and no waves that may come our way that he does not have the power to still within us, as well.
39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.
40 He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
41 They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”
Mark 5:18-20: As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.My Understanding: A man who had been demon possessed came out from the tombs to meet Jesus. The man could not be bound with chains, for he would break them off. No one was strong enough to subdue him. The man would cry out and cut himself day and night. The evil spirit within the man spoke to Jesus, Jesus asked his name and his name was “Legion,” for there were many of them inside the man. The demons begged Jesus to be sent into the pigs, so Jesus gave them permission to go into the pigs. The pigs rushed down a hill into the lake and were drowned. There were two thousand of them. The people of the area came out to see what happened. When they saw the man who had been demon possessed now in his right mind, they were afraid. When they heard about the pigs, they pleaded with Jesus to leave their region. The man who had been demon possessed begged to go with Jesus, yet Jesus did no let him. Instead, he told him to go back to his family and tell them how much the Lord had done for him.
When life throws those difficult moments at us and then Jesus comes in and brings miraculous healing and transformation into our lives, or when we have previously been controlled by sin’s deceitfulness, and we come to faith in Jesus Christ and we experience his transforming work of redemption in our lives, we do begin life anew, and we do become followers of Jesus Christ, or we become more dedicated in our following of our Lord. Yet, God does not always remove our difficulties nor does he necessarily pluck us out of our environments, but he wants to use the “new” us right where we are. If the people around us and familiar with us have known a different person, we might be concerned about whether or not we will be accepted or of the difficulty of starting life anew within the same surroundings as our old person existed. It may seem very inviting to us to think about going off somewhere else where no one knows us, yet Jesus may be saying to us, as well, to go back to our family members and tell them what Jesus has done for us and how he has had mercy on us. I think it is often the most difficult to witness to those who really know us than to witness to perfect strangers, and yet, we need to begin anew right where we are planted and be used of God with the people we know, to tell them what Jesus has done for us.
Mark 5:30-36: At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”My Understanding: A synagogue ruler, Jairus, fell at Jesus’ feet and pleaded with Jesus to come and heal his daughter who was dying. So Jesus went with him. While Jesus was on the way, a woman in the crowd touched his cloak. She had a bleeding disorder for many years and had suffered greatly. Doctors could not help her. So, she touched Jesus’ cloak, thinking that she would be healed. Immediately her bleeding stopped and she was freed of her suffering. Her faith had healed her. Jesus knew at once that power had gone out from him. He asked who had touched him. The woman came and fell at Jesus’ feet. Jesus said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
31 “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”
32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
35 While Jesus was still speaking, some men came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher any more?”
36 Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”
In this first story from Mark 4, Jesus calmed the winds and the waves and he rebuked his disciples for being afraid and for lacking faith. Yet, I found much encouragement in Jesus’ actions and words, for I sensed him quieting the storms in my own heart and life within me and saying to them, “Quiet! Be still!” I had been praying for his peace to rule my heart. It is so encouraging to me to know that Jesus is very much in control and that he knows exactly what he is doing when he allows these storms in my life. It strengthens my heart to hear him speak those words and to know that he has the power to calm my emotions and to bring peace to my heart, if I will let him, which I will. I had prayed for him to convict, reproof, correct, encourage and train me in righteousness, so he was answering my prayer.
In the second story in Mark 5 of the man who had been demon possessed, Jesus encouraged him to go home to his family and to share with them what Jesus had done for him. I think sometimes that our families are the most difficult audience because they know us so well, and it is so much easier to talk with perfect strangers, and yet I found these words of Jesus so encouraging to my heart this morning, as I believed he was inspiring me, as well, to share with my family members all that Jesus is doing in my heart and life.
And, then when I read the story, again, about the woman whose faith healed her because she believed in Jesus’ healing power, I was strengthened in my faith once again in God’s amazing power to heal lives that are broken before him, and that are suffering greatly, due to whatever storms or difficult circumstances might be going on in a person’s life. I found it particularly comforting to my heart this morning to be reminded of God’s enormous power to heal broken lives, our hurts, our sufferings, sorrows, and the distresses of life.
While Jesus was still speaking to the woman, he got word that the synagogue ruler’s daughter had died. His response to this was, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” So, even death is not an impossible situation with God. He has the power not only to heal but to raise the dead. This may be literal, or it may be figurative, for often we write situations off in our lives as hopeless or nearly hopeless and so we give up the fight, but Jesus ignored their resigning to just accept the death and Jesus brought her back to life. Nothing is impossible with God! He can save, he can calm our storms and fill us with his peace, he can heal all of our hurts, pains and broken lives, and he can bring back to life anything within our lives that we have written off as dead and hopeless of being resurrected. He is all powerful and all loving and he wants to bring healing, hope, peace and his mercy into our lives today if we will just bow before him and call upon him in faith and in humility, admitting our need of him, confessing sin, and turning from sin. Then he will heal our broken hearts.
Our Awesome God / An Original Work / May 25, 2011
I praise and adore You, Father,
I worship and praise You, Lord.
You are such an awesome God,
Who loves us so much, You implore
Us to follow You each moment
Of the days we have on earth,
So that we might live forever
With You, ‘cause of our new birth.
I praise and adore You, Jesus.
You died on a cruel tree,
So that we might be forgiven
Of our sins; You set us free
To love and obey You only,
While we bow on bended knee,
As we humbly walk before You,
Serving freely; You to please.
I praise and adore You, Spirit,
You came in to live with me.
Jesus sent You to abide
Within us, and our comfort be.
You guide and direct and counsel
Us in all of our God’s ways,
So that we can live for Jesus,
To follow Him all our days.
Song Lyrics @ Public Domain
https://sites.google.com/site/psalmshymnssongs/home/songs/our-awesome-god
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