Safe, Even in Death, With Him

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

I had a thought doing the Wednesday evening devotion on June 23 and going through the Gospel reading from Mark 4:35-41—where Jesus stills the storm. The disciples are fighting against the storm, bailing water out of the boat, scared out of their pants at this storm falling upon them in the pitch darkness. Jesus is asleep in the back of the boat on the pilot’s cushion. The disciple feel abandoned, they feel like God doesn’t care like He isn’t there with them in the storm because He’s asleep in the back of the boat. So they wake Him up. And Jesus calms the storm, and rebukes them all saying, “Why are you so cowardly? Have you still no faith?” (Mark 4:40) And that when I had my thought—what would it look like if the disciples had trusted Jesus as the Son of God? Does that mean that they no longer fight the storm? I’m not sure that’s the correct answer. Instead, I would think that the disciples continue to fight the storm, they work to preserve the lives of their neighbours in the boat. The fishermen work to serve and save the lives of those who aren’t fishermen in that boat, but at the same time, they know that if things continue to go sour and the worst should happen—Jesus is in the boat, and they are safe with Him. They’re safe, even in death, with Him. They work for the benefit of their neighbours, but they also trust Jesus.

It reminds me of the Sunday School song: “With Jesus in my boat, I can smile at the storm, as we go sailing home.” Now, I would correct the song a little bit, because we’re not going to be smiling at the storms that come upon us in life. Even if the disciples did trust Jesus in that boat, I don’t think they’d be smiling at the storm around them. But they would be more able to endure it, to work through it knowing that Jesus was in the boat, that He truly does care, and that He will save them even if the boat goes under. And they might even still ask their question, “Don’t you care? We don’t get it, if you’re here, why are we perishing? Why are you allowing us to suffer like this?” It’s the question of limited beings struggling with the will of an infinite God who sees the whole picture over and above our small, limited, personal view of things. The Bible is full of believers asking this kind of question to God. Our Matins & Vespers services begin with the cry “Make haste, O God, to deliver me, make haste to help me, O Lord” (Psalm 70:1). In other words, “Hurry up and save me, God! We’re dying down here! This doesn’t make sense.” Or Isaiah, who cries, “Oh that You would rend the heavens and come down” (Isaiah 64:1). It’s as if he said, “Lord, things are terrible down here, we’re suffering! Now would be a really good time to break the heavens open and come down.” We struggle with God’s will when it leads through suffering and death. It doesn’t make sense to us, yet we still turn to Him because where else will we go? As Peter says, “You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68).

It reminds me of the verse, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5). We live this life in the middle of all kinds of storms. We have the storms of a church in decline, the storms of daily stress, of old age, of immense suffering, and the storms of the death of those that we love. Sometimes we can see the path out of the storms, but often, it’s pitch black, and we don’t know the way out, or how things are going to turn out. And we do our work, we serve our neighbours and if needed, we take precautions to safeguard their welfare (such as wearing a mask). We might cry out with the disciples, with the psalmist, and with Isaiah crying out that we don’t understand what’s going on in this world and why things are so bad for the church, for us, and for those that we love. We humble ourselves, not counting ourselves wise in our own eyes (Prov 3:7), but instead placing our fear and trust in the God who can still the wind and the waves with the words that He speaks. The God who takes on our sin and our death by bearing it upon His own omnipotent shoulders and defeating them both in His death on the cross. The God who proves His great power by then breaking the grave and rising from the dead. And when storms blast upon us, if steeples do fall, and when death does come, we do our work to serve our neighbour, knowing that the one at the wheel, the one who has the rudder is none other than our God who died for us. Even if He is asleep. And we are safe with Him because He cares.

Your servant in Christ,

Pastor Tim Schneider