"Lord, don't you care?" | Previous Challenge Entry

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TITLE: "Lord, don't you care?" | Previous Challenge Entry
By Anne Linington
09/19/07
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“Lord, don't you care?”

We had flung those words at our beloved Master in the height of the storm, as we wrestled with the waves and feared for our very lives.

Looking at Him asleep on a cushion in the stern of the cramped boat, we had been unable to stop our fears exploding in angry accusation, at what we perceived to be His lack of concern. We weren't the only ones to have ever felt like that, remembering Martha's frustration at her sister's apparent lack of support; again the words, “Lord, don't you care..?” came accusingly.

Our day had ended uneventfully, and we little knew the lessons that we would learn, not only about our Master, but more searchingly about ourselves, and the lack of faith that we demonstrated under
pressure.

After another busy day, Jesus had done what He so often did and wanted to spend time away from the crowds. Sometimes He walked up into the hills to spend time alone with His Father, God. He needed these times apart as He called them, sometimes early in the morning, others all night long, especially when He had decisions to make or challenges to come. We too enjoyed the periods when He would draw us to Himself, ask us questions and teach us more about His kingdom and who He really was.

So we found a boat and pushed out into the water, with the Master aboard. He was soon asleep in the stern with His head on a cushion and we took the strain at the oars. Soon the winds grew in strength, and the sky was ominously dark. We were familiar with how quickly a life-threatening squall could break upon this piece of water, and some of our number, seasoned fishermen were as scared as the rest of us. Sheer terror gripped us all as the boat rocked perilously from side to side; climbing one wave, it would crash thunderingly down the other side. With each wave we wondered if this was the moment we would all be thrown out, and be found washed up on the beach in the morning.

So we hurled our stinging words at Him, accusing Him of not caring whether we lived or died.

We had already seen some of His miracles; the water miraculously turned into wine; the crowd fed by the repeated blessing and breaking of the lad's lunch; occasions on which He healed, delivered and even raised the dead. Yet over and above these, was the greater miracle of forgiving sin, and the inner changes that we had seen in so many. That night we learned of His mastery over even the winds and waves.

His words cut as sharply as the whipping winds, revealing our lack of faith in Him, His loving concern for us and His power to deal with the present threat.

We will never forget that night, when our faith was put to the test and found lacking; We had been unable to realise that we had within our boat the very Creator of the elements that were buffeting us so harshly. He was just waiting for us to ask Him for help at our point of need, and deep down we knew that He did care for us.

The calm we sought, returned not merely to the sea, as the winds and waves subsided, but we found a new calm in our hearts, a new certainty about the person in whom we were placing our growing faith. As we reached the other shore, we got out of the boat, changed men, knowing more about our Master, more about ourselves and a renewed determination to follow Him.

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