Four of life’s most important questions
Mark 4:35 And Jesus says to them in that day when evening came, “Let us go over to the other side.” 36 And having left the crowd, they take Him along as He was in the boat, and there were other boats with them. 37 And there comes about a great tempest, and the waves were breaking over into the boat, so that already the boat is being filled up. And He Himself was in the stern, sleeping on a pillow. And they get Him up and say to Him. “Teacher, don’t You care that we are perishing?” 39 And having gotten up, He rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Be quiet. Silence.” And the wind died down and there was a great calm. 40 And He said to them, “Why are you timid? Don’t you have faith yet?” 41 They became very afraid and were saying to one another, “Who then is this that even the wind and the sea obey Him?” (translation mine)
I am sure that if we all had to make a list of the four most important questions in life, we would all have different things on the list. But I was surprised to see four such questions in one small story from the Bible. These may not be your 4 top questions of life right now, but maybe they will be. And, of course, if the questions don’t have answers, we may not want to ponder them. But these questions do.
In the first question, the disciples asked Jesus if He cared that they were perishing. Normally this is a question we reserve for God, but in the Bible we are expected to think of them interchangeably most of the time. And so in the course of our lives, there will be times when we will ask God this question. And it is the foundational question of our relationship with Him. God, do you really care about me?
Many Christians will respond quickly with a Bible reference like John 3:16, where it says that God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. That answers the question on one level, but it still leaves this question open on another very basic level of life.
Dying for the sins of the world so that people may have eternal life is a very noble act, and people may do noble acts for others without personally involving themselves in the lives of all the individuals affected. So the fact that Jesus may give His life for humankind may not suggest to everyone that God would care that about the rest of our lives down here. When I say ‘care,’ I am asking just how involved He wants to get in our everyday lives.
This is a health column, so we have to ask if God really cares if we are sick, and what exactly is He willing to do about it? If anything.
To answer that question thoroughly and satisfactorily would take a book. And fortunately there is one. Actually two. The Bible, of course, is one. But you would have to do a lot of reading to find all the places in it that talk about it. And I have written one specifically about healing, referred to elsewhere in this column.
When an illness is prolonged and even life threatening, we will be tempted to question God’s love and care for us. If He won’t help you when you are sick, what WILL He do for you? Will He help you get a job, fix your marriage, straighten your kids out?
Based on this story, the answer to this question is a resounding yes. Jesus does care, and He will intervene. That assurance from this one story may not be enough to encourage you if you are seriously wrestling with this issue, if you are sick with a chronic condition that you have been told to live with.
But that is the answer. To believe it and to understand all that that means will take work. My book puts many of the passages that deal with that question together to make it easier, but it can be hard to overcome deep-seated feelings of God’s indifference or inaction.
Jesus responds to their need by calming the storm, but then He has a question for them: Why are you timid? Some translations read things like “afraid,” but the idea is timidity. The word is used of soldiers who are fainthearted, who are paralyzed in the face of the enemy. And Jesus asks them WHY are they like that.
By all appearances, they were in a life-threatening storm. Their boat was close to sinking. And Jesus wants to know WHY they are timid. Taken in the context of the whole Bible, the sense is that the people of God should never be afraid. Let me repeat that. The people of God should never be afraid.
I am sure that most of us can present good reasons why the fear and anxiety we have is justified. But bottom line, that only means that we don’t see how or if God is going to help us. But Jesus’ question makes it quite clear that we can and should be in the place where we see God as our “very present help in trouble,” and we can stand up to the challenges of life confident of our victory in God.
Jesus then follows that question up with another one like it. “Don’t you have faith yet?” Some people will see this as a bit of a trick question. A person becomes a Christian by having faith in Christ, yet Jesus still asks this question.
Faith is specific. I can believe that Jesus died for my sins and will give me new life in Him, but that doesn’t tell me what I believe He will do about my cancer or whatever else it is I may be going through. Sometimes we speak of faith as just leaving things in God’s hands, meaning whatever happens we will accept that as what God wants and that it is for the best. I don’t see that as what Jesus was getting at here. They didn’t see perishing as a good thing that God wanted for them, and Jesus didn’t either.
Jesus’ question was specific. They were timid, because they didn’t have faith. Faith for what? Faith that God cared about their situation and that He would do something about it. If they had (that kind of) faith, they would not have been afraid, or timid.
What’s going on in your life? Are you feeling a little timid lately? Are things a little scary? “Don’t you have faith yet?”
There are no quick fixes here. But Jesus’ question and His actions in this context indicate that He fully expected that the disciples should have had this faith. Our problem is that we have lost any sense that God wants to deliver His people out of their problems. We think it is just as likely that He wants to leave us in the problems for our good. Maybe He might want us to perish in the storm.
But that wasn’t Jesus’ response. And He wouldn’t have chided them if that were a possibility. In Jesus’ mind, there should have been no question what God wanted to do in that situation.
Last question. This is the disciples’ question now. “Who is this that even the wind and the sea obey Him? This serious problem ended quicker than it started. To God, it was no big deal at all. That problem that you are facing is no big deal with God. Why are you still facing it? I don’t know. I do believe that answering that question depends a lot on how you answer these previous four questions.
Those of you who already believe in Jesus may need to see Him as one who does care about those things you are facing and He is quite able and willing to do something about them. The question is: would He be asking you WHY you are timid, and if you have faith yet?
Some others of you are asking like the disciples did: just who is this Jesus? He is the unique Son of God who came to reconcile humans back with God. He died to pay the penalty for our sins and was raised again from the dead to share His life with ours. The Bible is God’s Word to us, telling us all about this, and Himself, and life.
When life comes at you like a storm, God wants us to know that He cares, that we don’t have to be timid in the face of it but strong in faith, and that this Jesus has complete authority over these things.
Let me say lastly, I know that life can be brutal at times. And I don’t want to be simplistic in suggesting answers. If I or Theresa can help you in any way, let us know. If you would like a copy of my book and money is an issue, let me know. I will send you one at no cost.
God bless you.
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