Mark 4 Oct 29, 2025

Mark 4: 38-40 “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” 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. And He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

  This scripture was my first thought when I was reading about Hurricane Melissa, a category 5 monster that is doing terrible damage to the Caribbean. I have read this account of Jesus calming the sea a thousand times, but as has so often been the case in the scriptures I thought I knew, I had not rightly divided the Word of Truth. I had always read these scriptures as the disciples freaking out in a crisis, asking Jesus to fix the problem. It is only now that I realize the disciples did not ask for Jesus to calm the storm, they asked if he even cared that they were all going to die. There was no prayer in this question and even less faith. After all the disciples had seen and heard they still questioned if Jesus really loved them. The crisis in front of their eyes caused them to forget who was present in the boat. What was Jesus' response? “Hush be still” was directed with authority at the storm (and I’m pretty sure He was telling the disciples to hush as well). An individual that KNOWS their authority doesn’t have to be loud or long-winded, they just need to say the Word. Jesus knew His authority and in spite of being in a boat filled with fear, He was not going to let the devil or anything of this world take Him or His disciples out of the picture before their mission was complete. It is a clique, but a true one that there are storms in this life that are so strong we often just want to hide, but unlike the disciples' situation, our Savior is not asleep. With His Holy Spirit living inside us and Jesus interceding for us the question becomes if God’s people are finally, in quiet confidence, going to “speak to the storm”. As believers, we should be speaking in boldness to every storm. Why?, because we come in the NAME OF THE KING…. JESUS! May we back down and cower no longer. It is finished on His end, but we have wonderful work to do.

Thoughts by Pastor Steve at Sugar Grove Bible Church