Be Still
- Bible Reflections
- Sep 11
- 3 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
RELATED SCRIPTURES
It was just the star-studded sky and me. Across the city, lights flickered. Shadowed trees slept. Everything was calm: no noise, no hurry, no demands. [...] Life is like that sometimes. There are jaunts in life's journey that are as glassy as a midnight lake on a windless night. No noise. No rushing. No crises. [...] But calm has a way of becoming chaos. When was the last time your life went from calm to chaos in half a minute? You're hail-stormed by demands. Assailed by doubts. Pummeled by questions. And somewhere in the trauma, you lose your joy. Somewhere in the storm you lose your song. - In the Eye of the Storm, Max Lucado
From Calm to Chaos
It had been a busy day. Once again, Jesus and His disciples withdrew to the lake—but 'a very great' multitude followed. They had heard all that He was doing: the sick were healed, the demon-possessed were set free, and people came from all the surrounding regions.
The crowd was so large that Jesus stepped into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while the people gathered along the edge of the water to listen. He spoke to them in parables, teaching about the Kingdom of God. Yet only when alone with His disciples did He explain the mysteries of the Kingdom.
Though fully God, as a man Jesus was subject to the same limitations we face. He faced immense pressure, surrounded by pressing needs and endless demands. Like us, He grew tired and hungry. He felt pain. He knew joy, and He knew sorrow. And yet, through it all, He remained calm. Through it all, He remained in control.
Yet Jesus not only remained in control—He was in control.
The One through whom all things were created, the One by whom all things are sustained, revealed His power in every healing miracle, His authority over the spiritual realm in every soul He set free. And soon, He would reveal His power and authority once more—this time over nature itself (Colossians 1:15-17; Hebrews 1:3).
From Chaos to Calm
Evening came, but the crowd was still there. 'Jesus could not land from the boat which had been His pulpit, for that would have plunged Him into the thick of the crowd, and so the only way to get away from them was to cross the lake.' - MacLaren's Expositions
At His request, the disciples set sail. No doubt they were relieved—finally a moment of calm at the end of a hectic day. Yet they were unaware that another parable was still to be told, and they would have a part to play in it.
Exhausted, Jesus fell asleep on a cushion, a small comfort aboard a weathered fishing boat. But even here, His rest was short-lived, for without warning, a fierce storm arose.
The small boat was battered by relentless, towering waves. It quickly began to take on water. The sky was black and threatening, the noise deafening, and the disciples were overwhelmed—frantically trying to keep the boat afloat.
The pressure the disciples had faced while dealing with the waves of people following Jesus, paled in comparison to what they felt when the sea broke loose.
This time, it was no longer about other people's needs and demands. They were the ones in desperate need. Their boat was rapidly filling with water. Their lives were now at risk.
The disciples were in great danger—yet following Jesus' command.
They were with Jesus—yet He was fast asleep.
Finally, in their despair, they reached out to Him, but not in faith—for they had questioned if He even cared.
Be Still
He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, 'Quiet! Be still!' Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. Mark 4:39
At His command the sea became perfectly still.
No waves, no ripples, no trace of the fierce storm just passed.
No wind—just silence... and some very heavy hearts.
A different kind of fear took over—an awe, and questions about who this man could be...
The One at whose command even raw nature, submitted to His will.
They hadn't grasped His power.
They hadn't grasped His care.
Yet, they had just begun to trust Him—because He showed them that, indeed, He cared.
When our boat is sinking,
When battered by life's fiercest storms...
When fears arise and questions feel relentless—Be Still.
For He truly does care.
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