Why are you so afraid?

     I am asking all of you to pray for the people in Texas, Oregon, and other states who have suffered during the recent ice and snow storms. They have lived without electricity, water, food, as well as had water damage due to broken pipes, trees falling on their homes and vehicles, etc. I know we could "pray continually" for all the trials, tribulations, and losses that people around the world suffer every day, every hour, every minute due to evil and injustice (1 Thessalonians 5:17). 

    Knowing the little I do know about the problems around me and around the world, it is no wonder, I worry, yet I am called to "not worry"(Matthew 6:25-34). How is that possible? The very seams of the earth seem to be unraveling. But I am reminded, that He created the world in six days, not me (Genesis 1:31). God is in control. 

    The apostles began to worry when the boat they were in was being tossed about by a sudden squall. They woke Jesus up and asked Him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?" (Mark 4:38). I sometimes feel like I am drowning in these trying times. Drowning in doubt, questions, concerns, worries, and all that my flesh can dig up to dwell on. 

    But what does Jesus say to the storm and then to the apostles in Mark 4:39-40, "He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, 'Quiet! Be still!' Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, 'Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?'" I wonder that about myself sometimes, as I have walk with Jesus for over 30 years now. Why am I so afraid? 

    Fear of...you name it...COVID, wild weather, angry people, political unrest, losing loved ones, and on and on it goes. But then I think about Jesus' question to his disciples, "Do you still have no faith?" (Mark 4:40). See, if my faith were as big as a mustard seed, I could move mountains...mountains of worry, stress, and fear (Matthew 17:20). 

    So rather than making mountains out of my fears, I need to be moving mountains of fear...with faith. Faith that I can "Be still!" and stop the raging storm of emotions within me and give those emotions over to the Lord. I can "Be still, and know that [He] is God," (Psalms 46:10) and I am not. I can be still and pray for myself and others to have the very peace of God within us regardless of the storm around us. 

Exodus 14:14 The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.