Not a Toy God

Text: “41 And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?’” (Mark 4:41)

You may remember that, any time we come across a passage in scripture where people are rebuked for their lack of faith, I like to ask the question: “What would a good example of faith have been for them in that moment?” In other words, what should they have done? What should they have said? How would they have handled things differently if they had acted out of faith?

Let’s start there this morning. You’re one of the disciples. You’re there in the boat with Jesus. A severe storm has come up and even though you and several of the other disciples are experienced boaters, it’s more than you can handle and the danger is very real. Your lives are most certainly at risk. Meanwhile Jesus is there in the boat, sleeping soundly while the storm rages and everyone else fears for their lives. What do you do?

You know what they did. They woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” Then, right after rebuking the wind and waves, He rebuked them. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” What did they do wrong? What should they have done?

They were not wrong to think that they were in very real danger. He doesn’t rebuke them for a lack of skill or for showing a lack of judgment in thinking that they could die. He rebukes them for a lack of faith. It wasn’t that they should have been able to handle it on their own. It wasn’t that they were mistaken about the danger. It was a lack of faith. A lack of faith that led to fear and that led them to actually question whether or not He cared.

This whole question is an important one. In the discussions about creation versus evolution, believers will point out that the complexity and the order in the universe points to a creator. Atheists can’t argue against that idea. They can’t claim that the universe looks like it just all happened by accident. It has an order, a structure, dare we say even a design that they have to account for somehow. So, instead, atheists have begun to make a different point. They say that, if the universe points to a creator, then it points to a really bad creator. If the universe was so wonderfully designed, then why are there storms and natural disasters? Why are there famines and plagues? Why do children suffer and die?

This question about how, exactly the disciples erred that day in the boat is important because it relates to how we answer these charges from modern atheists. In other words, answering the first question helps us answer the second.

This is not an abstract question, is it? I’ve shared, in the past, about my nephew who, by the age of 6, has already been through an entire course of treatment for leukemia that, thankfully, is in remission. As if that weren’t enough for him to deal with in his young life, this same nephew also was diagnosed very early on with a condition called Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP). It is a degenerative eye disease with no known treatment that will render him legally blind by high school. By the way, there is absolutely no relationship between RP and leukemia. The one does not cause or contribute to the other in any way. Statistically, it’s as if he won the lottery twice— except in the worst possible way.

This is not an abstract question. It’s not just a matter of “How should you have reacted if you were in the same position as the disciples?” Each of us has those moments. You know the feeling, don’t you? How do you approach God when the danger is, in fact, very real? When the situation is, in fact, far more than you have the skills or the strength to handle? What is the faithful response when everything seems to convince you that God is sound asleep as you call out, demanding, “Don’t you care that he is perishing?”

“Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” Jesus’ answer still carries a rather strong rebuke, doesn’t it?

Yes, He knows. He knows the power of the storm, because He is the One who “shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb… and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors, and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed’” (Job 38:8-11).

And yes, He knows and He cares. He did not create it to behave in this way. The fact that the winds and the waves rise up and threaten us is a reminder of our separation from God because of our sinfulness. This world is what we have made of it. He did not create it to behave in this way and He is not content to allow us to be destroyed. That’s why He is here.

Yes, He knows that you are perishing. He knows it better than you, do, in fact. When He laid the foundation of the earth, when He determined its measurements, when He stretched the line upon it, when He laid its cornerstone, the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy because it was perfect. He did not create storms to rage out of control; He created eyes to see perfectly; He created children to live, not to be sick; He created you to live forever.

That is what He came for. Storms rage out of control, we get sick and die, because we have separated ourselves from God. Our sin has shaken this creation to its very foundations. But the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone of a new creation. He is the fulfillment of the prophecy: “6 …‘Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.’ 7 …‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’” (1 Peter 2:6-7). We rejected Him and nailed Him to the cross but, in the process, He has become the cornerstone of a new, restored creation where “…the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death, or mourning, or crying, or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Revelation 21:3-4).

For a little while yet, we will still have to deal with the storms and the sickness and with death, itself. This creation is groaning. It “was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:20-21). The creation is groaning, but these are now the groans of childbirth (Rom. 8:22). “22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.” No longer is this the groaning of futility. Now, this groaning is bringing forth life. They are no longer death pains, they are labor pains. “23And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved” (Romans 8:23-24).

In fact, in Christ, we are even able speak of a blessed death. The disciples in the boat had no cause for fear. But that fact did not flow from the idea that they would not die. It flowed from the certainty that, whether they lived or died, they were with Christ. That is why He asked them, “Why do you fear?” Not because they should have realized they would not die that day, but because they should have believed that, in Him, they already lived forever.

Fear not. The same one who laid the foundations of the earth so perfectly when He created paradise for you has laid the cornerstone of a new creation for you.

“19 [Y]ou are no longer [separated from God], …you are… members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:19-22).

Fear not. Because, as often as you have reason to groan under the burdens of this life, it is in eager anticipation for your adoption as sons, in anticipation of the redemption of your bodies.

Fear not. Because “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth.” In Him, yours will be a blessed death, as well.

The danger is, in fact, often as serious as you think. And you may be right that it is far more than you have the strength or the skill to handle. But Almighty God, in His mercy is guiding the course of this world so that you may joyfully serve Him in godly peace and quietness; through Jesus Christ, His Son, our Lord.