Only Jesus Could Do That
By Matt Yamamoto, Director of High School Ministry
That day when evening came, He said to His disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took Him along, just as He was, in the boat. There were also other boats with Him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” (Mark 4:35-38)
I wish I could see the future.
As I write this devotional, Wednesday, Nov 4th, is coming to an end and the election results are still not in. Perhaps when this is published on Nov 6th, we will still be waiting to know who will be our next president, or perhaps we found out last night. It doesn’t matter where you get your news from, today the headline was the same everywhere––it’s too close to call. All-day long we watched as leads shrank in alarming ways for both candidates.
The tension is so real. It’s the first time in my relationship with my wife that we had dinner with the TV on. It doesn’t matter who your candidate is. It seems like the underlying message is that the world is going to end if the other guy wins.
As I considered what to write about for today’s devotional, I thought to myself that this is so characteristic for 2020. I am so ready for this year to be over. It’s the same thing that I thought in 2019, and then we got 2020.
I felt the Lord leading me to the passage where He calms the storm, and I argued, “But, Lord, while it is so appropriate for this year, that story is so overused.” It is so true though. We are in the midst of a storm, and not just any storm, but one in which we are yelling, “Don’t You care if we drown?!”
Wave after wave has crashed over the boat: the Australian forest fires, COVID, George Floyd & the riots, murder hornets, the West Coast wildfires, hurricanes, so many hurricanes, including Douglas here in the islands. Remember that? That was only four months ago.
And now the elections.
As I reluctantly turned to Mark 4 to read about Jesus calming the storm, I couldn’t help but envy Jesus’s ability to be so calm in the midst of the crashing waves. I want that peace and tranquility in my life. That’s when I felt the Lord telling me,
“That peace is meant to be yours.”
I always thought that Jesus’s ability to be so calm in that moment was only possible because He is God. But while I was revisiting this story, I felt God telling me that He wasn’t sleeping because only He could. He was sleeping because He wanted to set an example for us, to show us what may be impossible to us but what is possible through Him.
In the midst of all of the storms of 2020, God wants us to be so confident in Him that as wave after wave is crashing around us and the rest of the world is drowning, we will be at peace. It won’t matter who wins the presidency. God is victorious.
That peace is not meant for us to drown out what the rest of the world is reeling from, but to be a beacon of hope for others, a city on a hill. Those around us should be asking us, “Why aren’t you freaking out?”
And our response should be, “Because I have Jesus.”
Prayer: Dear loving Father of peace and calm, thank You for the example that You set for us. Even though You were in the direst of situations, You were at peace not because You were the only one who could be, but because You wanted us to see that we could all be at peace in the direst of situations. This year has been so tiring, and many of us are barely keeping our heads above the water, yelling, “Don’t you care if we drown?” Please take our hands in Yours, help us to our feet, and show us how even the biggest problems are little to You. Amen.
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