Mark 4.40 40 He
said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
– St. Mark
I’ve been in a funk. I feel like I’ve been in a boat, out
on the lake, and the winds have come up ferociously and my Lord is sleeping in
the back on a cushion. I’ve wanted to scream at Him, Hey! You! Wake up!!
And then I come back to reality and remember that He may
have slept back then, but He’s anything but sleepy now: Jesus Christ, the
Savior King is fully in control and fully in command. And He sees me, hears me,
and knows the season I’m going through. And He, though I can’t see, is working
on my behalf.
I’m currently reading the Book of Job. It’s an annual affair,
every year on October 17 the journey starts, and every year on November 15, I
read the last chapter, and it’s off until the next year. This year, the journey
has been remarkably different. My circumstances are different, and I have a new appreciation for the Book and its
main character: the man, Job. It seems this year, I’m having a bit of a Jobian
ride…
The thing about Job, he couldn’t understand why what was
happening to him, was happening to him. He knew he hadn’t done anything to make
God mad, but he sure felt like God had dealt him a death blow. And then his
friends came to comfort him and he
found their comfort was more like rebuke and an insistence that he’d somehow
pissed-off God, and was getting his just desserts. Friends can be like that
sometimes, can’t they.
Job began to do some heavy introspection. I’m sure he
asked himself, What have I done to deserve this? I think we all have a tendency
toward the, Why-Me’s. And then the questioning, the searching, the reviewing,
the agonizing. What is going on here, and how did I get in the middle of this –
and, WHERE IS GOD!? Shhh! He’s in the back, snoozing…
But then the sun comes up, and the question comes up: “Why are
you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” In other words: if God is God
and He’s led us here thus far, child, why has your faith slipped because of a
Jobian season in your life? Job questioned. WE question. God asks: where
is your faith? Am I not God of the good seasons, and the bad (as you call
them)? Do you still not believe in Me?
I think that’s at the crux of the Jobian crucible: our
faith – my faith has suffered some slippage; If He is not God of all, He is not God at all. It’s that simple. The math is
always the same. It’s my application of the math that comes into question.
A friend of mine – very unlike Job’s friends (who, by the way, only wanted to fix their friend Job) came into my
office and counseled me in his friendly, rancher sort of way: “Paul, you’ve
gotta relax and trust that God has this.” And that’s what it really boils down
to in our Jobian seasons, however long they last: Does God, sleeping or no, have this? Are we still safe in His care? Do we trust that He does care? And friends, Jesus asks: “Why
are you [we/I] so afraid? Do you [we/I] still have no faith?” It’s worth thinking
about…
Lord, today is a
new day and Your mercies are new as well. Thank You for a night of sleep and
for a new perspective today on my faith. No, Lord, I am not afraid; and, no
Lord, I haven’t run out of faith. I rejoice in You this morning and trust in
You for this day; it’s all under Your control and command! Amen.
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