How Could He Not Be Asleep?

Mark 4:35-41

Message No. 0623 | Twitter @GodandUs | www.wisdom-speaks.ca

If you search the internet for ‘what keeps people awake at night,’ you’re likely to see answers like caffeinated foods and beverages like coffee, soda, caffeinated tea, caffeinated chocolates, and other similar products. I thought to myself, these people have no idea! If anyone on this planet thinks it’s what you put in your stomach alone that keeps you awake at night, then he or she has not been paying attention. From experience and exposure to other people, I know that a lot more than coffee make sleep to disappear from people’s eyes.

Surely, one of the most common reasons why people aren’t able to sleep is Worry. Business executives worry a lot about how their businesses will survive and not go under, or how they can beat the competition. Parents worry how they can raise enough funds to support their families and send their children to school. Students worry if they will pass the exams they are scheduled to write tomorrow. Employees worry if they will get the next promotion or if their colleagues will leave them behind. Some worry if they will be able to pay their next rent or mortgage or where the next meal will come from. Others worry if they will die young or if they can ever meet the expectations placed on them, and much more.

In Mark chapter 4, Jesus has been teaching a large crowd who gathered to Him at the lakeshore. He sat inside a boat in order to give some distance between Himself and the crowd. When the crowd left, Jesus continued teaching His disciples until evening. By the time He was done, He was tired, so He asked the disciples to cross to the other side of the lake, while He moved to the back of the boat and slept, His head on a cushion. In verse 37, the Bible says that a fierce storm came up with high waves breaking into the boat and water began to fill the boat.

Confused and afraid, the disciples must have thought that Jesus was involved in trying to free the boat of water and save it from sinking, until they turned their head to look for Him and found Him sleeping at the back of the boat. Not believing their eyes, verse 38 says:

The disciples woke him up, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?”

The question is, what were the disciples thinking? How could He not be asleep? Not only was Jesus tired and needing rest to recoup energy, He was God, knowing the end from the beginning. Could the God who created the eye not see? Did the disciples really think that Jesus did not know the outcome of the storm? Did they think that He was so reckless that He would be sleeping, knowing that the disciples were in danger? What would the testimony have been if they had drowned? Would that not have been the end of His mission here on earth? Would this not have been a failed mission? Would that not have been the end of hope for Christianity here on earth? Just what were they thinking!

Decades ago, I heard the story of a man of God who had worked so closely with God and could very easily spot the antics of the devil. He was fast asleep one night, only to be woken up by some noise in his living room. Tired as he stood up from bed, he made his way to where the noise was coming from and found out it was the devil. The man simply uttered, ‘so it’s you’ to the devil, then closed his door and went back to sleep. This is the level to which God wants His children to get, where we simply ignore the devil, knowing that our God and our Father is with us always and will give no room for the enemy to hurt us.

Do you really believe that God is with you? Do you believe that He can do what He says He will do? If we know that whatsoever we ask in His Name He will answer, why do we stay awake at night then? Can we not simply trust that our Father will take control of whatever we are not capable of controlling? If no earthly father will leave his three-year old to cross the highway alone, why do we think that our Father will leave us alone to face the storms of our lives? If you are facing a storm that is keeping you awake at night, there’s only one suggestion I have for you: go to sleep. If your sleepless nights are not able to solve the problem, why not leave it in the Hands of the God who can?

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 Lord I know that I am a sinner and I am unable to save myself. I am sorry for my sins and I pray that you please forgive me. I am aware that Your Son Jesus died for my sins and I accept Him as my Lord and savior. I surrender my life unto you from this moment. Please take control of my entire being and help me to be obedient to your Word, going forward. Thank you, Lord, for hearing me. I have prayed in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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