Be Still… Jesus Loves You

So one of the times when I had a chance to travel to Israel, we took a little boat ride on the Sea of Galilee and went from Tiberias, if this, yeah, here’s the big Sea of Galilee, went from Tiberias up to Capernaum. And we’re in a boat that was probably 30, 40 foot long, something like that, probably 15 feet wide, I guess, big diesel engines. And as we took off, it was just an absolutely gorgeous day. The lake was just glassy, it was beautiful. We were out there on the lake for a while, they gave us an illustration of how they might have fished using throw nets and things like that. By the time we got over to Capernaum, the wind had picked up. It was still beautiful. There were no clouds in the sky, but the wind had picked up, and the waves were probably yay high. And that ship captain, boat captain, had a really hard time with those big old diesel engines to get that boat up to the dock and get it docked. And that was on a day which was beautiful. What might this storm have been like that Jesus and his disciples were in? Man, this must have been a rip-roaring thunderstorm. Remember, a good number of Jesus’ disciples were professional fishermen. And they feel so scared by this storm that they have to go do what? Wake up the carpenter’s son. (laughs) Humanly speaking, what in the world would fishermen want to wake up a carpenter’s kid? What help is he gonna give in sailing the boat? Of course, it’s far more than a carpenter’s kid sleeping in the back of the boat, as you know. And the way they wake him up is just, it kind of is a head-scratcher. Jesus, don’t you care? Jesus, we’re dying, don’t you care? What if Jesus had said, you’re right, I don’t care. Oh, man. That would have been awful, amen? But he did care. And he does care. In this instance, he showed his care by standing up and saying to the wind and the waves, “Be quiet, be still.” The word that’s translated be still is actually a word that can be used for muzzling animals. So you could translate that, put a muzzle on it. (laughs) The creation was rebelling against its creator. And so when the creator lifted its voice, the creation had to put a muzzle on it. The creation had to stop, it’s barking. Did he care? Yeah, he did. And he shows it, of course, all the more greatly as the days go on. And what does the creator of the world do? He allows himself to stumble under a beam of wood that he had created, allows metal that he had created to be pounded into his flesh, said he could die to pay for the sins of the world, your sins in mind. Does he care? Oh, wow, does he care? He cares more about you and me than anybody else in the world will ever or could ever possibly care about you and me because he was willing to die for you and rise for you and win salvation for you. That’s how much he cares. Can we be still? Yeah, I’ve got a God who cares for me. Oh, and who, by the way, can also stand up and speak to this furious storm that’s going on? Be quiet, be still. And it has to be quiet. It has to be still. Oh, what power your God has. So can we be still? Yes. The Lord Almighty is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress. We are more than conquerors through him who loved us. The one who says to us, be quiet, be still, is the one who can calm the winds and the waves with just the word. And who cares for you oh so dearly that he was willing to die and to rise for you? Be still. Know that I am your God. I will be exalted in you and through you and throughout the earth. Amen.