Jesus and His disciples were in a boat headed to the opposite side of the Sea of Galilee. Little details like And other boats were with him add authenticity that this was an actual report not just a story. Jesus was exhausted, so He found a spot in the stern of the boat and fell asleep. A great storm arose, perhaps as we have recently been experiencing in Nebraska. It was severe enough the boat began to sink. Experienced fishermen, as some of them were, became overwhelmed to the point they woke Jesus up and blurted out their frustrations with Him. They said to Him, Teacher, don’t you even care that we’re going to drown?
Jesus woke up and calmly said, “Peace! Be still!” (Mark 4:39), and suddenly everything became calm. This blew the minds of His disciples. Why so surprised? They had seen Him work miracles but not speak to nature and have it change its behavior! My point is, the picture they had of Jesus was great, but not big enough to calm the wind. Like other Bible characters, I have faced dilemmas thinking I was trusting God, but time was running out and there was no answer from Him in sight. I suspect it was similar circumstances that led Abraham and Sarah to take things into their own hands and create a baby boy by way of their female servant. In my case, I had our church hire the best candidate I could find to serve as a youth pastor. Although that person loved God, was talented, and even had success in building the youth group, his lack of integrity took him out of the game. For me, the God I had pictured in my mind was too small for my circumstance and my boat began taking on water causing me to make a wrong decision.
Peter wrote in his first letter, But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you (1 Peter 5:10 (NKJV). Did you notice the Holy Spirit inspired him to first reference God of all grace then in the very same sentence write of believers suffering? We normally recoil at the sound of suffering and attribute it to Satan’s destructive work. Peter then connects perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. Wow! That feels like an oxymoron. Can suffering be a good thing that ultimately brings about our perfection and other desirable things? By weaving two contradictory actions together, he is giving us a bigger picture of just how big our God of all grace really is! Is your mental image of God THAT big? …big enough to orchestrate suffering to lead to perfecting and strengthening?
If so, this adds greater depth to what Paul writes in And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28, (ESV). This is what Paul must have been thinking of when He said, Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done (Philippians 4:6, NLT2).
The bigger picture is revealed in Paul’s words, For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers (Romans 8:29 NIV). I’ve found God is big enough to use suffering in the process of perfecting, establishing, strengthening and settling us. He wants us to rest in who He is, not in what we feel or experience. When we do so, our anxiety level melts like ice on a hot day. I’m slowly learning just how big my God REALLY is and as I have done that I find I worry far less. I am so grateful for the Holy Spirit enabling me to see a broader picture of who God is.
I like the statement, “He wants us to rest in who He is”. Amen to that! Thanks for writing this!