Jesus, Sleeping on the Job?

Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” Mark 4:38 (NIV)

Storm raging all around and Jesus seems to be fast asleep.  Does this sound like us sometimes? Don´t we get the sensation once in a while where we feel like the Lord is not quite with us?  It´s like He is asleep and not paying attention to the predicament we find ourselves in.  We struggle with some difficult situation, calling out for help.  We know He is there with us, but He is unresponsive.  He lets the wind buffet us and the waves crash into and sweep over us.  It is an extremely helpless sensation and our hope fails us.  How could our Savior be sleeping on the job?

While being quite natural to have these kinds of thoughts, it only goes to show that we are created beings and cannot see past the familiar world around us.  Take for instance a person of a primitive tribe in a jungle somewhere far isolated from the modern world.  Bring this person into any big civilized city and it would blow that person´s mind and scare them to the bone.  The sights and sounds are not like anything they could have ever imagined.

We are like this when we speak of the heavenly realm and heavenly ways.  We are primitive individuals who have never been in the shining City of God.  But we need not fear.  If we edge a little closer to Jesus and grip His hand a little tighter, the magnificent new sights and sounds need not harm us and He will delight in showing us around.

But what about those times when we think He is sleeping on the job?  Perhaps it may be a little comforting to know that this is merely our primitive and limited way of looking at things.  What is really happening in those cases is far from what we fear.  Jesus may appear to us to be resting, but nothing has ever slipped past Him.  He sees all and is more concerned for our eternal health and welfare than we are.

How are we to know what mysterious business the Lord is up to?  The Disciples failed to realize what the Jesus was preparing to show them when that storm threatened to sink them in the sea.  The account helps an observant seeker to see that God is in control and no matter how great our fear, He may merely be preparing to show us His power and care.  Jesus is never asleep.  Most assuredly He is observing the condition of our hearts. He is looking to see if we are more concerned with ourselves, or if we truly are looking to Him and putting our faith where it should be.

Dear Jesus, forgive us for taking our eyes off You sometimes and looking at those frightening things that threaten to sweep us under.  Please help us to realize that ALL things are under Your control and that when we are tempted to think You are sleeping instead of being concerned what we are going through, it is only that we cannot see what You are up to.  Use those moments to demonstrate Your power and Your love.  May our hearts soar when we see Your mighty arm in motion, but rejoice also in Your might when least we can see it.

Amen