In the midst of the storm, with its driving winds and crashing waves that so tests body and soul, Jesus slept. If the storm threatened, it threatened Jesus as well, yet He slept. But He who made the world, He who summons the winds, can also calm them, and so he does not fear them.
But we who walk this world as fragile creatures unable to control ourselves much less the wind, we know fear. When the storms come (as storms will) He is neither disturbed nor concerned. He invites us to that quite place called His presence even as we tremble and squirm in fear.
We are frail. We are made of common stuff—dirt. So when the storm threatens we shudder, naturally we are shaken. When the storms threaten, we fear for our lives and rightly so. Things are even worse for us if for a moment we suspect that He is undisturbed by our troubles.
He may be untroubled by the storm, but He is deeply concerned for us. His calm demeanor in the face of grave danger is not disregard, but confidence. Jesus was sleeping while the disciples feared for their lives because Jesus knew they would reach the other side.
Still, had I been there, I might have been the one to go over and shake Him with my doubts. I would have been right there in His face when He opened His eyes saying,
“Don’t you care?!!!”
That is what they asked and it is what I would have asked. Perhaps even now it is what you want to know, does He care?
Scripture does not tell us Jesus made haste after He was asked that question. He had no reason to be desperate or anxious. He simply “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).
Of course the wind obeyed Him. As it was in the beginning, as it will be in the end, so it is even now, all of creation obeys His commands.
These words should calm the storm within us. These simple words should help us asleep in peace even while the storms rage around us. The violent waves of doubt within us should yield to these words, should obey the command of God: “Quiet! Be still!”
When the storms come (and they will) instead of waking Him, let us find our way to where He lies and stretch out beside Him. There will always be storms outside to threaten us, and doubt within to humble us. If He can sleep while these storms rage, perhaps He knows something we do not. He knows much that we do not. In this we can rest. In this we can live.
The wind howls and our hearts fear, but the Lord whispers, “Quiet! Be still!” He speaks to us as well as to the storm. Just as the storm heeded His words, let us rest and be “completely calm.”