On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.”  And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

Mark 4:35-41

In this story, the storm was too much for the disciples and they thought that they were going to be swamped and drown. What if we look at work circumstances that threaten to overwhelm us in light of this story about Jesus and faith? If we pray for the Lord’s help and the circumstances miraculously fall into line with a desired outcome, then we have a great testimony.

But what if we have a different experience? What if it seems to us that when we cry out to Jesus for His help, He wakes up, looks around, says “Carry on” and goes back to sleep? The storm is not calmed and might even get worse. Has anyone else had experiences like that?….. because I have.

What could that have been like for the disciples? They would need to go back to fighting the storm to the best of their abilities, working to keep their boat from being swamped. But if they had faith in Jesus (which they did not have yet), they would be fighting with less of a sense of panic. Since Jesus is in the boat and aware of what is happening, the storm is not as threatening as it appears. I imagine they would go back to fighting the storm more effectively because they would not be as afraid.

When work circumstances threaten to overwhelm us, we should bring them to Jesus. And if He does not change them, does that mean that in this instance our faith has had no effect on our work? Do we have an unspoken bitter attitude of “Thanks for nothing Lord.”? If our faith is for that particular outcome, then we need to admit that our faith was ineffective. But if we have faith in Jesus, in His presence and purposes, then our faith can impact our work significantly.

We can navigate the circumstances with a belief that there is a path forward that will serve Jesus and His purposes. We can do that because we have faith that Jesus is present and that He cares about what we are going through. I think this can make a big difference in how we handle the circumstances. This does not necessarily mean that we can see that path and how it will turn out. But we can believe that there is a path through the circumstances and that Jesus will change the circumstances if that is what is needed.

The biggest help that our faith might provide is a different perspective on how threatening the circumstances really are. If we answer the question “Why are you so afraid?”, we might discover that faith in Jesus means that we do not need to be so afraid. And that can make a big difference in how we persevere when the storm continues.

I would love to connect with you about these posts if they have stirred any thoughts or questions. Take a minute, shoot me an email at bo@leavenedlives.org, and let’s see where that takes us.