Jesus Is in the Boat

Every one of us will experience storms in life. Sometimes those storms involve our finances, our marriages, our families, our health, or circumstances beyond our control. We all face situations that challenge our faith and cause us to wonder what God is doing.

One of the most difficult parts of experiencing a storm is not always the storm itself. Sometimes it’s the feeling that God isn’t doing anything about it. We pray, but nothing seems to change. We ask God for direction, but we don’t seem to receive an answer. We know that God is able, but we wonder why He hasn’t intervened.

In Mark 4, the disciples find themselves in a situation just like this. Jesus had been teaching all day to a large crowd of people beside the Sea of Galilee. The crowd was so large that Jesus had to get a boat and teach from the water while people listened from the shore. Here He talks about these parables:

•   The Sower

•   The Lamp Under a Basket

•   The Growing Seed

•   The Mustard Seed

 

V34 says that Jesus took time when He was alone with His disciples to explain all of these things. Right after, Jesus tells them that they were going to cross to the other side. Jesus had important business to take care of in that He had a God-ordained appointment with a demon-possessed man that He would later deliver and set free. He would later be found sitting, clothed, and in his right mind. Incredible! Jesus demonstrated his authority over demons and spiritual darkness. But before that, Jesus was going to demonstrate His authority over nature and the circumstances of life.

Let’s take a look at Mark 4 as there are several things that we can learn from their experience:

1.     Following Jesus Doesn’t Mean You Won’t Face Storms

Mark 4:35–37
“35 On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side.” 36 Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. 37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling.”

•   The disciples didn’t end up in the storm because they were disobeying Jesus. In fact, they were in the boat because Jesus had instructed them to cross over to the other side.

•   That’s important because sometimes we assume that if we’re doing God’s will, everything should go smoothly. We believe that obedience should produce comfortable circumstances.

•   But the disciples were exactly where Jesus had told them to be, and they still encountered a storm.

Being in God’s will does not make us exempt from life’s difficulties.

•   You can love God, obey His Word, faithfully serve Him, and still experience hardship. Storms are not necessarily evidence that you’ve done something wrong.

•   Sometimes the greatest tests of our faith occur while we’re faithfully following Jesus.

•   Don’t automatically interpret the presence of difficulty as the absence of God’s direction.

2.     God’s Silence Doesn’t Mean He Doesn’t Care

Mark 4:38–39
38 But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” 39 Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.

•   One of the most interesting details in this story is that Jesus was asleep while the disciples were terrified.

•   The disciples woke Jesus and asked, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”

•   Notice what they questioned. They didn’t ask whether Jesus was capable of helping them. They questioned whether He cared about what was happening to them.

And sometimes we do the same thing.

•   When God doesn’t respond the way we expect, or when circumstances don’t change as quickly as we’d like, we begin questioning His concern for us.

Be careful not to interpret God’s silence for a lack of concern.

•   Jesus stood up, rebuked the wind, and commanded the sea to be still. The wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

•   The disciples discovered that the storm was never beyond Jesus’ authority.

•   Don’t allow what God hasn’t done yet to make you forget what His Word has already revealed about His character.

•   We may not understand God’s timing, but we can trust His heart.

3.     The Storm Reveals What We Believe About Jesus

Mark 4:40–41
40 But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” 41 And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!”

•   After calming the storm, Jesus asked His disciples two important questions: “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?”

•   Jesus wasn’t simply addressing their circumstances. He was addressing their faith.

•   They had already witnessed Jesus perform miracles. They had seen His power demonstrated in extraordinary ways. Yet when they faced a storm themselves, fear overwhelmed their confidence in Him.

•   And then the disciples asked one of the most important questions in the passage: “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!”

The greatest revelation in this passage is not that Jesus can calm the storms. It’s that Jesus has authority over the storm.

•   The disciples were learning more about who Jesus truly was.

•   Sometimes difficult circumstances reveal where our faith is strong and where it still needs to grow.

•   When storms come, remind yourself of who Jesus is rather than allowing your circumstances to determine what you believe about Him.

•   We don’t always know what Jesus is going to do about our circumstances. But we can trust who He is in the middle of them.

4.     Remember Who Is in Your Boat

•   The disciples began their journey terrified of the storm. They ended their journey in awe of Jesus. Although their circumstances had changed, it gave them an opportunity to receive a greater revelation of the One they were following.

And that is what I want to encourage you with today…

•   You may be walking through something difficult You may be praying about a situation that hasn’t changed. You may be wondering where God is in the middle of everything you’re facing.

Don’t allow your circumstances to cause you to forget who Jesus is.

•   He is faithful.
He is powerful.
He is present.
He is worthy of your trust.

•   He doesn’t promise that every storm will disappear immediately, but we can trust Him regardless of what we’re facing.

THREE TAKEAWAYS

I.      Following Jesus doesn’t mean you won’t go through storms

II.     God’s silence doesn’t mean He doesn’t care

III.   The storm reveals what we believe about Jesus

Roll It Onto the Lord

Proverbs 16:3 | Genesis 24

INTRODUCTION:

We all have plans for our own life. We have desires and goals that we want to accomplish. However, we also recognize that God has a plan for our life as well. As born-again believers, we have a desire and a responsibility to discern what it is that God desires for us to do. Consequently, we all face moments in our life where we are asking the question, “what should I do?” That question applies to every area of our life. It may be about your family, finances, career, relationships, marriage, the future, etc. We find ourselves wanting and needing answers, especially when the decision carries major consequences.

This is a normal part of life! The question becomes, where or whom am I turning to for the answers? Sometimes we go to

• Friend’s opinions

• Mentors

• Cultural norms

• Search engines

• Social media

• AI (ChatGPT)

• Feelings

• Reasoning

None of these are necessarily bad. However, sometimes we can gather so much information and so many different opinions that we can become confused and second guess our decisions. The question I want to ask you today is, “Where do you turn to first when you don’t know what to do?” According to God’s Word, His desire is that we trust Him and go to Him for the answer when we don’t know what to do.

Proverbs 16:3 — “Commit your works to the Lord, And your thoughts will be established.”

Commit (Gālal) = To roll; to trust.

• That word “commit” means “to roll” onto something. 

• It is used figuratively as to roll your trust over onto something or someone else, to entrust your plans to God. 

• The picture is transferring a weight you cannot carry on your own over to the Lord. To roll or transfer a heavy load onto someone else who is stronger. 

• It is about dependence (surrender). 

• It is taking the situation out of my own hands and placing it in the hands of God and under His authority. 

• You are depending on God for the outcome. 

Established (Kun) = To make firm, secure, or successful.

• When we commit our ways to the Lord, we are depending on Him to establish our plans. 

• Our thoughts become established in the process as well. 

• When we rely on other avenues around us to help us make a decision on what to do, we can become split in our thinking and second guess on what we should do. 

• However, when we trust in the Lord and commit our ways to Him, our thoughts will be established as our attention and dependence is on Him.

As Christians, we should have a regular practice of going to God to determine the next step in whatever decision we are making. When we commit our life to Him, we regularly will commit our plans to Him as well. God expects us to go to Him for direction. We too should have an expectation of going to God and depending on Him for the outcome of what we should do.

We are going to turn to the book of Genesis and look at the life of a man named Abraham. He is a prominent figure in the Bible, and is central to the story He is telling throughout scripture. Abraham:

• God called Abraham to go to the land that He had given to Him

• God promised that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars

• Abraham trusted God’s promise in faith

• God established a covenant with Abraham in faith

• Abraham is considered as the father of our faith

In Genesis chapter 24, Abraham is near the end of his life and he wants to ensure he finds a wife for his son Isaac (the process of marriage in their culture was/is much different than in ours). The process would involve going back to his homeland, which would have been a very difficult journey for him in his old age. Therefore, he calls on his head servant to go in his place.

Genesis 24:2-4

“2 So Abraham said to the oldest servant of his house, who ruled over all that he had, “Please, put your hand under my thigh, 3 and I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell; 4 but you shall go to my country and to my family, and take a wife for my son Isaac.””

Look at how the servant responds:

v5 — “Perhaps the woman will not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I take your son back to the land from which you came?”

Now the servant raised a reasonable question: what if she doesn’t come? He wants to know what he should do if the assignment doesn’t unfold the way he and Abraham had discussed. What if things don’t go the way he expected? What should he do? He is asking Abraham because he doesn’t know what to do.

You see, we too ask the very same questions as well. What do I do if it doesn’t work? What if they say no? How should I respond? What if I take this step and things don’t happen the way I hoped? We too have been in this very same place. Today, we are going to take a look at how Abraham responds and where he turns to find the answer to challenges life gives.

1. Abraham trusted what God had promised
   
   “6 But Abraham said to him, “Beware that you do not take my son back there.”
   
   Abraham was resolute in his decision here. He was very adamant that the servant would not take his son Isaac back to his homeland of Mesopotamia. But why? Why was he so resolute in this decision?
   
   “7 The Lord God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my family, and who spoke to me and swore to me, saying, ‘To your descendants I give this land,’ He will send His angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there.”
   
   He was adamant about this decision because of what the Lord had spoke to Him in the past. God had brought Abraham out of his father’s household and promised the land he was living in to his descendants. Therefore, because God had told him that this land is where his descendants would be, he did not want to risk sending Isaac back home. The promise God had given Abraham guided his decision in that Isaac must not go back.
   
   This was a conviction that Abraham had. The foundation of his conviction was based on what God had promised him. He was adamant about making a decision that was in agreement to what God had said.
   
   The compass of Abraham’s life was the promises of God.
   
   A compass provides direction. It helps you determine which way to go when the right path is not obvious. When you are unsure of what direction to go, a compass is what you have to depend on in order to know which direction to go. Abraham depended on the words of God.
   
   That is exactly what God’s Word is to us, a compass. It gives us direction when we don’t know what to do. Often times our feelings change, opinions conflict, circumstances become uncertain. In those times, we must depend on His Word as our compass to determine which direction we are to go.
   
   Before we ask what makes the most sense or what everyone else thinks, we should ask ourselves:

• What has God said?

• What does His Word teach?

• Would this decision require me to compromise what He has commanded?

• What is the Holy Spirit leading me to do?
  

Later, when the servant recounts this conversation, he describes Abraham as a man who walked before the Lord (Genesis 24:40). Abraham’s expectation of God’s guidance grew out of an ongoing relationship with God. It is through that relationship with God that he developed that compass.

We too will find that through a consistent effort of developing our relationship with God, we will grow to expect God to show up in our life as well. Our trust in God is found more in who He is than what He can do.

When we make walking with Him a regular part of our lives, we too will have a sense of God’s direction in our life as well.

2. Abraham’s trust influenced his servant
   
   Notice that when the servant raised a concerning question about the situation, Abraham did not stop and think “you know you may be right.” He didn’t reconsider his decision based on what his servant said. Why? Because he was anchored in His trust in God by His promises, not in what other people thought. Imagine all the people who told him he was crazy when he chose to leave the home of his father to go to a land that was promised to him. However, his decision to leave was not based in the thoughts and opinions of others, but in God’s Word.
   
   Instead, Abraham responded in faith. He expected for God to show up and lead his servant in the direction he should go. He told him that the Lord would send an angel before his servant to help him accomplish his task. Well, apparently this impacted the servant. He made a promise to Abraham that he would do as he said. Look at what happens next:
   
   Genesis 24:10-12
   “10 Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed, for all his master’s goods were in his hand. And he arose and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor. 11 And he made his camels kneel down outside the city by a well of water at evening time, the time when women go out to draw water.
   
   12 Then he said, “O Lord God of my master Abraham, please give me success this day”
   
   What does the servant do? He seeks the Lord. Wow! Why is he seeking the Lord? Because that is what Abraham did. Abraham’s conviction influenced him to the point where he did the same thing. Abraham practiced dependence on God, and now the servant begins practicing that same dependence in the assignment that was given to Him.
   
   There is an application here for every one of us:
   People are learning where they should turn to by watching what we turn to. Whether it be your kids, your friends, co-workers, family members, etc, the people you lead notice what governs your decisions.

• Do they see you pray?

• Do they hear you consider what the Bible says?

• Do they see you acknowledge your need of God’s help?
  

That is what Abraham did. He remembered what the Lord said out loud and confirmed that it was for that reason he chose to make the decision that he made. It was a moment of discipleship. Discipleship is more than just teaching. While it does involve us teaching the scriptures and what it says, there is more to it.

There are some things that are taught and some things that are caught.

What is taught takes time to process, at times. The things that are caught are immediate downloads to our heart. The things that they catch you doing when it comes to your trust and convictions in God, those are the things people will catch. When they see us take His Word seriously and depend on Him, we give them an example of how to approach their own decisions.

Notice that when he seeks the Lord, he calls out to the “God of my master.” Abraham knew the Lord, trusted the Lord, and was completely dependent on Him. While we do not know exactly where the servant was in his faith in the Lord, we do know that he did not have the same level of faith and experience that Abraham did. However, even though that was true, he still reached out to God. He did that because he saw that his master Abraham had done it.

We must trust in the Lord and commit our ways to Him as a conviction. It will lead others to do the same.

3. The Servant sought the Lord
   
   Genesis 24:12-14
   “12 Then he said, “O Lord God of my master Abraham, please give me success this day, and show kindness to my master Abraham. 13 Behold, here I stand by the well of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. 14 Now let it be that the young woman to whom I say, ‘Please let down your pitcher that I may drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink’—let her be the one You have appointed for Your servant Isaac. And by this I will know that You have shown kindness to my master.””
   
   The servant was at a point where he didn’t know what to do. He didn’t know much about where he was and didn’t know where to go. He needed direction. So what did he do? He sought the Lord.
   
   Notice what the servant didn't do. He didn't go back to Abraham with more questions. He didn't panic or make something happen in his own strength. He stopped at the well and committed his way to the Lord. He rolled the weight of the assignment onto God.
   
   There are times in our life when we don’t know what to do. Whether it is something with our family, our marriage, workplace, finances, future, etc. We find ourselves facing a problem and we need direction. Seeking counsel is a good thing, your feelings are useful senses, technology and search engines are good resources. However, none of that can replace seeking God for the answer.
   
   

4. The Servant’s thoughts/ plans were established
   
   What happened after is that the Lord brought to past all that the servant prayed. Rebekah gave him water and drew water for his camels. The Lord proved to be faithful in the instance. Once all that had happened, the servant knelt down and began to praise God.
   
   Genesis 24:26-27
   26 Then the man bowed down his head and worshiped the Lord. 27 And he said, “Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His mercy and His truth toward my master. As for me, being on the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master’s brethren.”
   
   He worshipped God because He knew the Lord had answered his prayer. He knew God was in this work. Once he saw that God was working, his thoughts became established. At one point the servant was questioning whether this thing could take place. Now he was praising the God of his master and knew that he was the Lord. He had committed his plans to the Lord and He established his thoughts and plans.
   
   When we commit our ways to the Lord, He promises to establish our thoughts and establish our ways. Instead of being split in our thinking and second guessing on what we should do, God will establish your thoughts as you trust only in Him.
   
   The servant told the whole household that he would not eat until he shared his testimony of what had happened. He went from questioning the God of his master to trusting himself in God and Him alone. His thoughts became established in the Lord. The servant went to that well uncertain. He left established. His thinking wasn't split between opinions and what-ifs, because his attention was on the Lord.
   
   Remember where this servant started. He stood at the edge of that city with ten camels, a long list of unknowns, and a question he had already asked out loud: “What if she won’t come?” His thinking was split. What if, what if, what if. Now fast forward a few verses. Same man, same well, same unknowns. But something has changed. The questions haven’t all been answered, but his mind is no longer divided. That’s what Proverbs 16:3 promises. Not that every question gets answered immediately, but that our thoughts get established, made firm, settled, anchored.

TAKEAWAYS

1. Allow God’s Word to guide you
   
   

2. Seek the Lord first when you don’t know what to do
   
   

3. Remember that your trust in God influences others
   
   

4. Expect God to establish your thinking

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