Conclusions - Life Application Study Bible Devotional
Conclusions
Mark 4:35-38, NLT
As evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.” 36So they took Jesus in the boat and started out, leaving the crowds behind (although other boats followed). 37But soon a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water. 38Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke him up, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?”
Setting the Scene
Most of us struggle with making good decisions, but we seem to have no trouble at all jumping to conclusions. While the disciples were frantically bailing water from the boat, they realized their efforts would not be enough. At that point they jumped to a conclusion: We’re going to drown. Their conclusion was realistic and depressing.
Then someone noticed Jesus was still asleep. He hadn’t stirred when the boat began to buck with the waves, and the shouts of the sailors-turned-bailers hadn’t wakened him. Now they jumped to another conclusion: Jesus must not care about our fate. After all, he was soundly sleeping while the boat sank!
We might chalk it up to plain terror, but hearing the disciples skip right past the opportunity to ask Jesus for help and move right to accusing Christ of not caring reveals a deep failure to treat Jesus with respect. They didn’t give him the benefit of the doubt. Their comments don’t indicate that they were resentful because Jesus didn’t do something about the storm (they really didn’t expect anything like that to happen). They were upset that Jesus wasn’t up worrying with them. What’s the point of drowning if you can’t be terrified together? They wanted the fear to be shared by everyone in the boat.
It’s hard to keep up appearances under stress. Fear brings out the real us. When we are only going through the motions of trusting God with our lives, the least bit of difficulty will shatter that brittle trust. We need to practice trusting God when the seas are calm so that it isn’t so hard to trust him when the seas of life are rough!
Getting Personal
When have you felt that God didn’t care about a particular situation in your life? What caused you to feel that way?
If the situation has been resolved, what happened to show you that God indeed did care?
Consider where the edge of your trust in God is today. How far are you depending on him? Now take a step beyond that edge. Where can you stretch your faith in a new area?
Talking to God
Trust the Lord today with your most pressing problems and stressors. Ask him to develop your confidence in his sovereign control. Ask him to help you think clearly, without panicking or jumping to false conclusions.
