Jesus Is Lord Over All: Disaster & Difficulty

On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”

Mark 4:39–5:1 ESV

And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” 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?” They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes.

I grew up in a Christian home. And as any kid who grew up in a Christian home during the late 90s and early 2000s know, one of the things you did was watch VeggieTales. Despite it lacking in robust theology and being extremely corny, VeggieTales has a way of communicating simple, biblical truths to young children that have the potential to stick with them as they grow up.

One of those truths that stuck with me is a lesson I learned from watching the very first episode of VeggieTales that was produced. The title of the episode is, “Where’s God When I’m S-Scared?”. The first story of the episode centers on Junior Asparagus, who watched too many scary TV shows and was too frightened to sleep at night. Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber show up in Junior’s room to teach him an important lesson about God that would calm and comfort him. And that lesson was that God is watching over Junior and cares for him very much because, as Bob and Larry taught through song, “God is bigger than the Boogyman”.

As a child, I took that to mean that God was bigger in size than any monster or problem I faced. Now as an adult, I realize the lesson was not about the greatness of God’s size, but the greatness of His sovereignty!

“Where’s God When I’m Scared?” That was essentially what the disciples wondered and said in their question to Jesus during the storm on the Sea of Galilee. “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”

Mark’s original audience may have had similar thoughts and asked a similar question. Remember, Mark wrote his Gospel for the Christians living in the city of Rome. And at that time, it was not easy being a Christian. Because they refused to bow the knee to Caesar and chose to worship Jesus Christ as Lord alone, the Christians in Rome faced terrible persecution and horrible execution.

This account of Jesus calming the sea would have brought them much encouragement and resolve to endure the dangers and difficulties they faced. They could identify with the disciples and their question to the Lord, “Don’t you care that we are perishing?” “Don’t you care that many of us are put to the sword, eaten by lions, and forced to live and worship in secret? Where are you, Lord? Arise and act!”

If we’re being honest, we too have the same thoughts and ask the same questions. “Where’s God when I’m scared? Don’t you care?”

The answer to the disciples’ question in verse 41 is the key to understanding this account. The disciples asked, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?” The answer to this question sheds light on their previous question. “Don’t you care that we’re perishing?” The answer of course is, “Yes, Jesus does care.” But along with that, we are assured that He is in control.

As fallen human beings, during times of darkness, danger, disaster, and difficulty we are prone to fear, anxiety, and even as Christians we become forgetful of who Jesus is and what He can do. But this account of Jesus calming the sea is meant to strengthen our faith, instill confidence in the Lord, and provide us perfect peace despite the raging waves and roaring winds of troublesome circumstances. The lesson we can learn today and need to be ever mindful of is that:

Theme: Jesus Christ is the Sovereign Lord, who cares for us amid great danger and difficulty.

This truth provides an anchor for your souls when times are tough and trials and troubles come. That anchor being Jesus and His Sovereign Love.

We’re going to trace the sovereignty and love of Jesus in this passage. In this passage I see a word repeated three times that act as hinges or joints to hold together the four points of the outline this morning. That word is the word “great”. It is very easy to spot in the ESV, which consistently translates the thrice repeated Greek word “mega” or “megas” as “great” each time it appears. In verse 37, there is a great windstorm; verse 39, a great calm; and verse 41, a great fear. These three “greats” are major turning points in the narrative that Mark recounts, most likely from Peter’s eyewitness testimony. And they hold this four-point outline together, which is going to accentuate Jesus’ loving sovereignty.

1. The Lord’s plan before the storm (v. 35-36)

Let’s look at the first point, which precedes the first “great” in our text and provides a nice little introduction into the narrative. In verses 35 and 36, we have the Lord’s plan before the storm.

It’s been a very long day of ministry for Jesus, a day that possibly began all the way back in chapter 3 verse 7. As the sun sets, Jesus is ready to turn in for the night and continue His ministry the next day.

Mark 4:35 ESV

On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.”

Verse one of chapter 5 informs us as readers where Jesus intended to go with His disciples; to the country of the Gerasenes. This region is located to the south-east of the Sea of Galilee, and had two cities numbered among the Decapolis: ten Greek cities, populated with Gentiles, seeped in Hellenistic/pagan culture. I mention this because a good, God-fearing Jew would avoid this area by any means necessary. In fact, the Sea of Galilee is mentioned over 50 times in the Gospels, and this is one of the few instances where “the other side” is mentioned at all. Jews didn’t even want to mention this region, let alone set foot in it!

And yet, that was exactly Jesus’ plan. He had an appointment with a demon possessed man the following day that He would not miss. Jesus was willing to endure a violent storm just to minister to this single man. This is a beautiful picture of the grace of God. And it further demonstrates that God’s Kingdom is not confined to the Jews, but its branches would extend to the nations, providing them a haven of peace and hope in Christ.

At this point, we would expect the disciples to decline Jesus’ charge. We might expect them to do what Jonah did when the word of the LORD commanded him to go to Nineveh, the heart and capitol of the Assyrian Empire. Fascinatingly, this account in Mark has many striking parallels to Jonah chapter one. But, the major difference between Jonah and the disciples is that Jonah disobeyed the word of the LORD and attempted to flee to Tarshish across the Mediterranean Sea. But the disciples obeyed the word of the Lord. We read:

Mark 4:36 ESV

And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him.

Verses 35 and 36 teach us Christians a valuable lesson. Jonah disobeyed the LORD and what happened?

Jonah 1:4 ESV

But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up.

However, the disciples obeyed the Lord and what happened next?

Mark 4:37 ESV

And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling.

Here then is the lesson. Storms will come to obedient believers who are serving the Lord. Charlatans will deceive their listeners to believe that obedience to God will be rewarded with a happy life free of problems, full of prosperity, complete with sunshine, rainbows, and butterflies. “The Lord would never knowingly lead you into trials and troubles. Besides, if you are in a storm it’s because you’re disobeying the Lord.” they teach. That completely contradicts what happened to the disciples in this passage.

Obedient believers are not exempt from suffering, from trials, from hardships, disasters, dangers, or difficulties. This is the reality of the sin-fallen world we live in. Again and again the Bible tells us if we desire to live a godly life we can expect hardship, suffering, and trouble. The Christians in Rome knew all about that fact.

And yet, the Lord’s plan, as we shall see, is always for the good of His people, always for the growth of His Kingdom, and always for His glory. Obedience may not always yield happiness, but it will always bring true blessedness. There is a tremendous difference between being happy and being blessed. Sometimes being blessed will mean we experience happiness. Other times, being blessed will mean we experience hardship. Nearly half the beatitudes in Matthew 5 teach that truth. “Blessed are the poor in spirit… Blessed are those who mourn… Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake… Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account,” Jesus declared.

Clearly, God’s concept of blessing and blessedness is very different from our expectations! It’s in those low seasons of life that we can more fully experience His comfort, His peace, and His goodness in ways we could never experience otherwise.

2. The Lord’s presence in the storm (v. 37-38)

Let’s keep progressing through the narrative. In verses 37 and 38 we encounter the first “great” in the passage. The disciples and Jesus suddenly sail into a great windstorm. Here we can observe the Lord’s presence in the storm.

Mark 4:37–38 ESV

And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”

This storm is so great that Mark has to use two words to describe its power. The first word he used was the word for “hurricane”. And the second word refers to strong winds. So, together, Mark is illustrating the raging waves of the sea and the roaring wind blasting the boat.

The Sea of Galilee is the lowest fresh water lake in the world, a little over 600 feet below sea level. I say lake because its size is only 13 miles long and 8 miles wide. There are lakes in Minnesota bigger than that! But, it can rightly be called the Sea of Galilee because it has many characteristics of a sea. The Sea of Galilee is known for its severe and sudden storms. The Sea itself is like a basin, with mountainous terrain circling the shoreline. Mingled through the mountains are various ravines that connect to the sea, which act like a funnel for the cold air of mountains to whip down upon the sea. The combination of the descending cold air from the mountains with the rising hot air of the sea cause “explosive thunderstorms and gale-force winds” [Brian Bill]. In such storms, the waves would reach heights up to 10 or 12 feet high and even 20 feet in extreme cases, such as the one we are reading.

A great windstorm indeed! Waves were crashing over the side and the boat was quickly filling with water. This windstorm was causing the disciples, some of whom were seasoned fishermen, to panic. More water was coming into the boat than they were able to bail out.

It had become apparent to the disciples that not all hands were on deck to help them survive the storm. Jesus, we read, was asleep on the cushion in the stern of the boat. This is the only instance in the Gospel accounts where we read that Jesus actually slept. And this illustrates for us a few things about our Lord.

First, He was fully human. He had had a long day of ministry and needed rest to recharge for ministry the next day. Second, this demonstrates His trust and confidence in His Father’s will. His life would not end on a rough cruise on the Sea of Galilee, but on a rugged cross on Golgotha. And third, it echos what He had recently taught in His parable of the growing seed. Remember what the sower did after scattering the seed? He slept and waited for the seed to grow on its own. Jesus had spent much of the day broadcasting the good news of the Kingdom of God and now He sleeps, relying upon the power of His Father through the implanted Word to take root, sprout, and grow a successful harvest.

But, while Jesus is calm and confident during the storm, the disciples are clamoring and the chaos of their hearts rivals the 20 foot waves of the Sea! They’ve tried everything to save their necks and keep the boat afloat. Nothing was working. So finally they shake the Lord from His slumber and question Him. Really, it’s less of a question and more of an indictment. “Teacher, don’t you care that we are going to die?”

It is far too easy to relate to these disciples, isn’t it. Have you ever been in a trial, a time of difficulty, trouble, danger, a “storm” and felt that the Lord was asleep at the wheel or didn’t care? We might be afraid to voice that we ever consciously believed that, but on some level, I think we probably have felt that way. Or at least our actions testify that we believe He has fallen asleep on us or abandoned us in a sinking ship.

“Don’t you care that we are perishing?” We’ve all asked that question in a million different ways, a million different times. “Lord, aren’t you concerned about what happening down here?” “God, where are you when we need you most?” “Jesus, do you care that my marriage is failing and broken?” “Do you care that I’ve lost my job?” “Lord, don’t you care that my spouse has died?”

When life is all well and good for us, we never question the Lord’s sovereign love for us. We say “God is good all the time and all the time God is good.” But the moment a cloud appears on the horizon we become fearful and forgetful.

We measure God’s goodness based on our circumstances. We imagine that He has left us to figure things out on our own. The Bible tells us otherwise. The Lord’s love is called a steadfast love, meaning it never waxes or wanes. It remains constant in our trials and troubles. His goodness is described as “abundant” and David proclaims that it will follow us all the days of our lives. He is called “a very present help in trouble” and He has promised His own that “I am with you always, even to the end of the age,” “I will never leave you nor forsake you”. The Lord’s throne is said to be “established from of old” and He sits “enthroned from everlasting to everlasting”, meaning His sovereignty and rule are never challenged, never shaken, never in jeopardy, and are not dependent on sunshine, clear skies, and still waters.

The Lord is just as present in the whirlwind as He is in the gentle breeze. Do not confuse His silence for His absence or an abdication from His throne. He is present. He is with you. And He does care.

During times of great difficulty we need to balance our fears with a faith in God’s promises.

Remember the Lord’s promise to His people in Isaiah 43:

Isaiah 43:1–3 ESV

But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you.

Or speak to yourself the words of the psalmist

Psalm 34:18 ESV

The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.

Jesus may have been asleep in the boat during the storm, but He was near and available to the disciples. Which brings us to my third point.

3. The Lord’s power over the storm (v. 39-40)

In verses 39 and 40, we see the Lord’s power over the storm. The disciples have fearfully cried out to the Lord and Jesus wastes no time in responding.

Mark 4:39 ESV

And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

Here we have the second use of the word “great” in this account. A great calm. The wind suddenly dies and the Sea instantly becomes like a giant sheet of glass. In the blink of an eye it’s as if the storm was never there. Had the disciples not still been drenched to the bone and water still sloshing around on the deck, they would have thought it all a dream!

The chaos of the storm would not cause Jesus to stir from His sleep. But, the cry of His saints roused Him to action! This offers much encouragement and gives us an exhortation to “pray without ceasing”. Jesus may appear to be sleeping on us or uncaring at times from our perspective. But, the truth is, Jesus is always near to help. All we have to do is go to Him and ask and He shall arise to powerfully act on our behalf.

And what power is put on display by the Lord! With merely two words, the waves are erased and the wind disappears. This can only be the power of God. In the Old Testament, the only One who possesses such power over nature like this is the LORD. Our Scripture reading earlier highlighted one psalm that teaches this very thing.

Psalm 107:28–29 ESV

Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed.

We have many similar pictures in various places in the Psalms. For example,

Psalm 89:9 ESV

You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them.

Jesus’ power here in Mark 4:39 can only be the raw, unleashed power of Almighty God. As the storm arose suddenly and severely to destroy, so the Lord arose swiftly and sovereignly to deliver.

After commanding the wind and the waves, Jesus turns to confront His disciples.

Mark 4:40 ESV

He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?”

In one sense, what the disciples did during the storm was commendable. They ran to Jesus and looked to Him for answers. But on the other hand, they failed to trust His goodness and power. How many times before had they seen Jesus extend compassion and exercise His sovereign authority? He has cast out many demons; He has healed diseases, small and great, from a fever to leprosy; He has even forgiven a man of all his sins! By now, you’d think they would have grasped what He was truly capable of and who He truly was!

Yet, Jesus asks them, “Why are you so afraid?” Literally, Jesus asked, “Why are you cowardly?” “Have you still no faith?”, He adds. In other words, their problem was that they had not put what they knew about Jesus, what they’d seen and heard, into actionable faith. And sadly this won’t be the last time that they lacked faith in the Lord and were possessed by fear.

But, we shouldn’t be too hard on the disciples, right? I mean the revelation of who Jesus is was unfolding piece by piece for them as they walked with Him and served with Him. We have no such excuse, though. We have the full revelation of His person and power readily available for us to see and believe. We know more about Him than the disciples did at this point and still we fail to trust Him at times. Our fear takes the driver’s seat and faith is tossed in the trunk!

How silly it is of us to doubt our Lord’s goodness and love toward us! Has He not given His very life to secure for us an eternal hope and invincible salvation? Has He not protected us from the greater storm of God’s wrath against our sin? And still we doubt He can get us through the puny, wispy clouds that cover us or the light, momentary afflictions that assail us.

That is not to say that the Lord will always calm every storm His people face. Sometimes, He will not calm the storm, but instead will calm the souls of His saints. Sometimes, we trust in the Lord and the miracle never comes. The boat still sinks. Such was the case for Horatio Spafford, the author of the hymn we sang earlier, “It Is Well With My Soul”. His wife and four daughters were involved in a devastating accident at sea. Only his wife, Anna, survived. His four daughters perished in the Atlantic. Before the ship sank, Anna gathered the four girls and prayed that God would spare them if that was His will, or to make them willing to endure whatever awaited them. Within approximately 12 minutes, the ship slipped beneath the dark waters of the Atlantic, carrying with it 226 of the passengers including the four Spafford children. Once Horatio received word that only his wife survived, he quickly booked passage across the Atlantic to be with her. And it was on that journey that he wrote this most beloved hymn that has brought immeasurable comfort to many suffering saints, whatever their affliction may be.

Certainly Jesus has the power to change and calm our circumstances, but often He chooses to change and calm us in our circumstances. Our storms should drive us to trust in the Lord, not drive us away from trusting Him! He has never once proven Himself untrustworthy or unfaithful. Why would our particular situations be the exception? We can trust in Him and rely upon His presence and power no matter our circumstances. Whatever our lot, He has taught us to say, “It is well, it is well with my soul”!

4. The Lord’s purpose for the storm (v. 41)

Now quickly, let us look at the final point. We’ve noticed His plan before the storm, His presence in the storm, and His power over the storm. In verse 41 we can catch a glimpse of the Lord’s purpose for the storm. The Lord has stood and rebuked the wind and the waves. Immediately the sea is still and the wind ceases. Now we read how the disciples reacted to this display of sovereign power.

Mark 4:41 ESV

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?”

Our English translations attempt to smooth out the language of the disciples’ emotions. The NIV says, “they were terrified”. The King James says, “they feared exceedingly”. In the Greek, Mark sandwiches the third use of the word “mega” or “great” with two forms of the word for “fear”. Literally, it would read, “they feared a great fear”. In the face of the great windstorm they were cowardly or timid. But now that all is calm, a new and greater fear overwhelmed them.

They were face to face with the greatness and omnipotence of Jesus. This sort of fear will pop back up two more times in chapter 5. Each time it comes as a response to the sovereign power of Jesus. In Mark 5:15, the Gerasenes witnessed what Jesus did to the demoniac and “they were afraid”. In Mark 5:33, the woman who touched the hem of Jesus’ cloak was instantly healed and she “came [to Jesus] in fear and trembling and fell down before Him…”.

Generally speaking, there are two reasons why we succumb to fear. First, we tend to fear what we cannot control. And two, we often fear what is strange or unknown to us. We like to imagine we have some semblance of control in our lives, but then we get into situations and circumstances that strip away any control we thought we had. We are left powerless and helpless, desperately in need of someone else’s help. And when confronted with unknown variables or something foreign to our human experience, we shrink back in fear as well.

I think we see both forms of this fear in the disciples. They are fearful of the storm because they cannot control it and are powerless to save themselves. And when confronted with the strange, omnipotent greatness of Jesus Christ, who can control the storm, they are left quaking in their boots.

“Who then is this?”, they say to one another. Everything they thought they knew about Jesus was quickly tossed out the window in that moment. They were standing in the presence of the Holy. That is to say, in the presence of such otherness they were overcome with dread. Like Isaiah, who saw the LORD of Hosts in all His holiness, the disciples were given a vision of this Sovereign One and they were “undone”. They realized right then and there that this Person was different than every other person on earth. “Who then is this, who was asleep in the stern of the boat just moments ago, but with the word of His mouth can still the sea and silence the storm?”

And that is what I believe the Lord purposed the storm to teach them. The Lord’s purpose for the storm was to reveal to the disciples His true identity and increase their awe and worship of Him. It is in this great storm that we see Jesus’ full humanity and full divinity. He needed sleep, and yet He is sovereign over the Sea. Fully man and fully God. This storm revealed to the disciples the glory and holiness and power of the Lord in a way that wouldn’t have been displayed had they traversed on quiet waters that night.

This is the key to dealing with any and every troubling situation and circumstance in our lives. It’s the awareness that Junior Asparagus learned to have when he was scared. An awareness of the greater power of Jesus that causes all lesser fears to flee in order to be replaced with a reverent fear for Christ. And that is part of why we will encounter disastrous storms and difficulties in this life. The Lord would have us to see and believe He is stronger, bigger, and greater than anything we will ever face. He would have us to know and trust in His goodness, love, and sovereignty. He would have us to lean on His promises and presence.

Think about it. If we never encounter great trials, tribulations, many dangers, toils, and snares, we would never have such a sweet taste of the greatness of our Lord. If we never knew danger or difficulty we might have the wrong impression that we have no need for the Lord. But, we must, as Spurgeon said, “learn to kiss the wave that throws us against the Rock of Ages”. He ordains such storms in our lives so that we would draw near to Him and depend upon Him. That we would be able to “taste and see that the Lord is good”. In life’s darkest hours we can know and trust that Jesus does care and that He is in control.

Conclusion

After their deliverance, the disciples were left puzzled concerning the identity of Jesus. “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?” Despite being delivered from this storm by His power, Jesus’ identity remained a mystery to them. But, this deliverance from the storm points us to a greater, ultimate deliverance at the end of Mark’s Gospel. And it is this deliverance that will reveal to all Who Jesus is and what He can really do.

The cross reveals that the Lord does care that we are perishing. The cross displays Jesus as the only One who is able to deliver us from the greatest of storms: the storm of God’s righteous judgment against our sin which leads to eternal destruction. On the cross, Jesus endured the stormy sea of God’s wrath for sin in our place. In doing so, He demonstrated to us His amazing love for sinners and His sovereign power to save. That stormy sea engulfed Him and He died. But then He emerged on the third day, resurrected in power, proving that all who trust in Him as Lord and Savior will have the same deliverance from the grave and final judgment. Those who turn from their sins and trust in His atoning death and glorious resurrection will never perish, but have eternal life.

Matthew Henry once said, “The ship that has Christ in it, though it be tossed, cannot sink.” Are you in His boat, upright and afloat because of His righteousness and power? Or are you in the sinking boat of your own sinfulness and self-righteousness? Better to go through the storms of life in the Lord’s boat than to have smooth sailing without Him! Trust in Him with all your heart and He will lead you one day to an eternal, safe harbor; to a place where the sea is always still as glass and disasters and difficulties are no more. Cast yourself upon the Lord, for He is sovereign over all and He cares for you.

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