Mark 4:38 “And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?”
The Lord was teaching his Apostles, and we are the beneficiaries of His lesson. One of the great challenges to the Children of God, is to rely upon their God-given “faith”; for, it is certain that “In the world ye shall have tribulation” (John 16:33). Tribulations are those things that overwhelmingly trouble us, causing us dreadful fear, rank discouragement, and debilitating hopelessness. If we are not careful to continuously endure our troubles, always “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2), our “tribulations” will overwhelm us and stymie our faithful service to the Lord. Peter tells us “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:” (I Peter 1:7). The “trial” (testing) of our God-given “faith” is “more precious than of gold”; because, when, in the midst of overwhelming “tribulation”, we stand strong and continue to press forward in our Lord’s service, it is “precious” to Him, for that is His beloved Children’s loud cry, I believe and love the Lord our Merciful God! It is also “precious” to us, for each “tribulation” that we endure yields greater and greater strength of “faith”, which better equips us to stand against the next “tribulation”. To His Apostles, the raging “storm” was about to capsize their ship and throw them all in the sea to be drowned. They had already seen the Lord perform great miracles, and now they could not understand why He wasn’t doing something to deliver them. When they said, “unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish”, they were not doubting His ability to do something, but their anxiety led them to assume that He was either inattentive or He was slothful in this matter and was going to let them “perish”. Later on, Paul explained that “we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience …” (Romans 5:3), and he wrote to the Brethren at Thessalonica that “we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure …” (II Thessalonians 1:4). Weakness in the face of “tribulation” is an unbearable plague to the Children of God, as illustrated over and over again: “O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.” (Psalms 22:2), “Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more?” (Psalms 77:7), “Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore?” (Psalms 77:8), “Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah.” (Psalms 77:9). This weakness is our “infirmity”, “but” we endure and overcome by faithfully declaring “I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High”; that is, “I will remember” how the Lord has delivered me in my past “tribulations” (Psalms 77:10). The Lord continued His lesson when “he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm” (John 4:39) and then admonished them, saying “Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?” (John 4:40). The Word of God is filled with examples of how our Lord comes to us in troubled times and He either delivers us from the trouble or He removes the trouble from us or He gives us wisdom and strength to endure the trouble. We can endure our “tribulations” and continue on in our service to the Lord, “for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5)!