I quit

In a recent Bible Study with our young adults, led by Jenn Messler, we examined boats in the Bible. This lesson being born out of the concept that we all are in the same storm but definitely not in the same boat…and we quickly realized in our discussion not even the same kind of water (rapids, too calm and quiet, etc.). The main boat story focus was on the story in Mark 4:35-41 where Jesus fell asleep in a boat in the middle of a huge storm.

Now I could teach for an hour on:
-is Jesus asleep in your boat?
-why did they only go to him after they tried everything else?
-how bad does a storm have to be before we call on Jesus for help?
-how doing ministry makes you want to take a nap.? (that one may just be for me)

Those are all great concepts and make a great point, but what about the fact that Jesus asks afterword, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

Jesus continues to challenge us to use our faith (that the Holy Spirit gives us) to speak to our circumstances. Jesus does this with his disciples when they are to feed the 5000. Jesus says, “you feed them”, and their response, “with what? We only have…”.

How much time do I spend trying to bail water out of my boat? Or focusing on the waves when I could just speak to the storm? Now this may seem foolish or “simple minded”, but check out the lesson right before this story in Mark 4:30. That is right, faith as big as a mustard seed!

Jesus teaches us something and then says go do it! Speak to your storm and do it before you are bailing out water or scared by the waves. When the winds stop and the waves go calm, it is still God who did it. But now you are part of the solution for change. You are part of God’s plan to change the circumstances that look dire! You can break up storms, or move mountains, but you must actually try! Stand up in your boat! Speak to your storm! And watch God change the view!