Jump Start # 1475

Mark 4:39 “And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.” And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm.”

  Our verse today comes from that powerful story that took place upon the sea. Jesus and His disciples were crossing the sea and a violent storm came up. The waves were breaking over the boat. The boat was filling up with water. It looked like they were going to die. They thought that they were going to die. Jesus was asleep. They woke Him up and said, “Do you not care that we are perishing?” Certainly Jesus cared. He always cares. They were not going to perish. Not that way. Not at that time. They didn’t know that, but Jesus did. Then comes our verse. Jesus calms the sea and the storm stops. It becomes perfectly calm. The only thing that wasn’t calmed was the nerves and the heart of the disciples. Once afraid of the storm, they were now afraid of Jesus. It’s one thing to cure an illness, but to control the weather? To change the weather? Who can do that? Wet, shivering, scared, they look to Jesus and wonder, “Who is He?”

I have often wondered who Jesus was talking to when He said, “Hush, be still.” The wind and the waves are not alive. They do not have ears to hear. One cannot talk to the weather. It’s similar to the creation story when God said, “Let there be light.” There was only God at the moment. Who was He talking to? In both cases, God was not talking specifically to a person, but bringing His will to be. God wanted light and there was light. Jesus wanted the storm to calm and it became calm. By saying those words, “Hush, be still,” the disciples understood that it was Jesus who stopped the storm. It wasn’t some weird fluke of nature, it was Jesus. They heard Him. They saw the immediate results. There was no question that Jesus changed the weather. Right then, right there. Amazing. No one can do that. How many times do we have an outdoor activity planned and it’s raining, especially, a wedding. It would be great to change the weather. We can’t. How many times have we sat in airports with flights delayed or cancelled because of weather. It would be great to change that. We can’t. No one can stop clouds from rolling in. No one can stop rain. No one can make thunderstorms move out of the area. No one, but Jesus. He did. He did what no one can do. He did the impossible. He was always doing the impossible. There was nothing too hard for Jesus. There was nothing out of His league. He could do anything. He had all authority. Everything was subject to Him. Everything obeyed Him.

There might be another lesson in Jesus saying, “Hush, be still.” The winds obeyed Him, but there was a need for the disciples to hush and be still. That’s hard when one is in the panic mode. Fear keeps us from being still. It isn’t always storms that causes that, but the uncertainties in life. A noise in the middle of the night awakens you. You lie very still listening, trying to figure out what that noise was.

• You haven’t been feeling well. The doctor orders a series of very intense tests. Now you are scared.
• The company you work for has announced some coming layoffs. Your boss wants to see you. You are scared.

The Psalmist said, “Be still and know that I am God.” Other versions uses the expression, “Cease striving.” Hush, be still. That’s a great thought for us. Be still.

Be still and be calm. How? How can we be still when our world is falling apart? How can we be still when things are up in the air and are so uncertain? How can we be still when we are frightened, unsure, and our nerves are on edge.

Jesus, after calming the sea, looked at those wet disciples and said, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” They had Jesus. They had Jesus all the time. Jesus was with them in the storm. Hush, be still.

I wonder if that’s what God says of us. We get excited. We run around not sure what will happen, and God thinks, “Just hush. Be still. Do you not have faith?” You see faith and calm go together. Faith and confidence go together. What you don’t find is faith and worry together. Or, faith and fear together. The greater the faith, the less the worry and fear. The opposite is just as true. The greater the fear, the less the faith.

Hush, be still. It calmed the sea. It should have calmed some hearts. It’s what you and I need to remember. God is with us. God can do all things. We can get through these storms because of God. Hush, be still. Pray harder. Pray more. Get your eyes off the problems and put your eyes on Jesus.

Hush, be still. Those words are hard for those type A personalities. Being still isn’t in their vocabulary. High energy. Busy. Running. Full steam ahead is the way they operate. I know. I’m one of those types. Hush, be still, especially for our types. We can run right past Jerusalem. We can be going so fast that we don’t even notice Jesus in our boat. Hush, be still. Calm those nerves. Trust in the Lord.

It is interesting that Jesus miraculously calmed the storm, but He didn’t the disciples hearts. That is something that they would have to do through faith. Jesus gave them the reasons, but they would have to believe.

Hush, be still. You can almost hear Jesus saying, “Shhhh.” Maybe that’s what we need today. Maybe we need to find Jesus. Maybe we need to simply, “Hush and be still.”

It works on storms and it works on us!

Roger