Hey, We Are Financially Drowning Here! Help!
Ξ October 5th, 2008 | → 4 Comments | ∇ Christian Living, Growing In The Lord |
Welcome back!
Have you hollered that one at God lately? I have. It’s getting worse and worse. Isn’t it strange that a few years ago, many of the television preachers were telling us all to get out of debt because a financial crisis was coming. I guess they were right. So, we call out to God concerning our money problems and He comes back with…..what? Silence? Sarcasm because we did not listen? The latest get rich quick scheme? No, actually He brings up this:
(Mark 4:35-41) And evening having come, He said to them on that day, Let us pass over to the other side. And when they had sent away the crowd, they took Him with them as He was in the boat. And there were also other little boats with Him. And there arose a windstorm, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was now full. And He was in the stern of the boat, asleep on a headrest. And they awakened Him and said to Him, Master, do You not care that we perish? And He awakened and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, Peace! Be still! And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And He said to them, Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith? And they feared exceedingly and said to one another, What kind of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?
I wanted to mention a couple things here. Jesus was asleep as the storm was tossing the boat around. Most people would have gotten up and panicked about what to do or would go about securing the boat and bailing water out of it. But Jesus was peacefully sleeping. That takes the confidence of knowing that there was no danger. Period. God wants us to know that even in dangerous situations, if we will simply go to Him concerning the problems and dangerous situations that He will take care of it. But it does require a confidence that, no matter what happens, God is in control. Jesus knew that.
The disciples did not have that confidence, obviously. They came in and woke a peacefully sleeping Jesus to ask an absurd question. “What’s the matter with you? You are sleeping peacefully while we are about to drown. Why aren’t You getting up to panic with us?” “Don’t You care that we are going to die? Don’t You want to die fearfully with us?” Pick any of those ridiculous questions because they all pretty much sum up what they were asking. Now, why is that a ridiculous, absurd question? Since you asked, I will tell you. The first part is that He was sleeping. I don’t know about you but if I had been with this guy as long as they were, I would be asking myself why he was asleep during all this but not because I thought we were going to die. I would want to know because He wasn’t afraid. He didn’t jerk awake and run screaming like they were doing.
Jesus was not afraid because He had the confidence and sure knowledge that God was in control and that, no matter what, He would guide them safely across the lake. They allowed fear to enter in and make them panic. No one tends to make good decisions when in a panic. So, when they woke Him up…and that must have been one of those jerk awake things which I hate….He got up, took a look at the situation, rebuked the wind and storm, went back to the guys and said…”What’s up with you people? Fear about a little storm? Have you listened to nothing I have taught you?”
If that had been me, I would have looked at them with mouth dropped open wondering what would it take to get through to these obviously hard headed people who pay zero attention to what I’m saying. Jesus is a gentle person Who is not going to rail about things like this but He had to be frustrated with the lack of faith that was showing so strongly. In fact, with His question about faith, you KNOW He was having a problem with them. And what happened after He asked the question? More fear. Isn’t that pretty typical? It’s an unknown. Better have fear. Don’t understand. Bring on the fear. And worse, fear is the total opposite of faith. So, any faith they might have grown leaked out of them fast.
What is the moral of this story and what does it have to do with our financial situation? First, God is not sleeping. He is waiting for you to seek Him. Second, He does not want you to drown financially. But you have to do your part too. Seeking Him is the way to deal with the problem right from the beginning or in the middle. Wherever you are, go to the Lord and seek His help. He sees the end from the beginning. While you may not know about or understand your situation and what will deal with it, He does know. Ever wonder why God does not allow us to see outcomes prior to getting there? Because we would not need faith, would we? And that is the whole point of this lesson, to grow our faith. If we did not have trials, there would be no point in living here. We need our faith to grow strong in the Lord so that we will lean on Him more and more for our needs and wants. At the same time, we need to have a relationship and fellowship with Him. He needs to be your closest family member and friend.
What was the downfall for the disciples? Fear. That fear blocked out everything they knew about boating. See, there were at least a couple of really good fishermen on that boat, remember? How is it that they did not just go ahead and secure the boat, work what they knew about boats? And just to throw in another goofy question….if they couldn’t deal with the problem themselves, what did they hope to accomplish by waking one guy up? One more guy is not going to change anything if they thought that they were about to die. But somewhere in those brains, they knew who He is. But then, He gets up and calms the storm. When He asked them about fear, they panicked some more. Who is this guy? Does anyone see how ridiculous this is? They woke Him up to get Him to do something about the storm. He does it and they get afraid. See how ridiculous fear can be? The problem is that when someone is in a panic, they are not thinking rationally. Obviously.
The lesson here is to seek God and get your faith growing up into maturity. When that happens, you will no longer be afraid of circumstances since God is in control and taking care of everything. EVERYTHING. Now, what does this have to do with the current financial crisis? You guessed it. Faith. God is in control. Now He might not handle your situation the want YOU want Him to do but remember….God knows the end from the beginning. He can handle all situations if only you will give it all to Him. Now is a great time to start that. God will meet you wherever you are right now. Seek Him. He is waiting for you.
