TUESDAY January 28th
Mark 4:35-41
‘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?” 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?”’
This is another of the incredible miracles that are recorded for us in the gospels, and there is another one similar to this one, the difference being in this miracle Jesus is in the boat, albeit fast asleep, while the other miracle recorded in John’s gospel happens after the feeding of the 5000 and Jesus is not in the boat, but he walks on the water. In both accounts there is a storm, and Jesus calms the storm.
I want to make a play on words for our devotion today and adapt the words of the song ‘Jesus the very thought of thee with sweetness fills my breast’ and from the events of this miracle change it to ‘Jesus the very thought of thee with stillness fills my breast’. Just a single change of word but imagine the fear that would have gripped the disciples as the storm began to batter the boat, the ESV calls it a great windstorm, the waves beginning to fill the boat with water, but what seemed to be more concerning to the disciples was the fact that Jesus was asleep on a cushion in the stern! The statement they make as they wake him is quite telling ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing’?
Well with hindsight of course we know that Jesus would have cared, but the truth of the matter is that with Jesus on the boat they were never going to perish, whether he was asleep or a wake, but regardless he gets up and he rebuked the wind by saying ‘Peace be still’ and the wind ceased. And I am confident that I can draw this conclusion that Jesus also brought a stillness to their troubled breasts.
And Jesus is the ultimate source of true peace because he is the Prince of Peace, you should be aware by now that I have shared with us the verses from Isaiah 26:3-4 to be the motto for us as a fellowship for 2025, ‘You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock’.
Whatever yours or my circumstances are at the time of reading this daily devotion, as we call out to Jesus, just as the disciples did in their troubling and fearful circumstances, he is willing to come and to speak his peace into our hearts.
A reminder of Psalm 46, which to sum up the first few verses, though this and that will happen, even may be happening at this moment, God calls to us to ‘Be still’ and to know that he is God. As we learn to be still, he will speak stillness into the storms and the dilemmas of our lives.
So, change the word and say along with me, ‘Jesus the very thought of thee with stillness fills my breast’ and allow him to bring calm to your soul.