Suddenly a windstorm struck the lake. Waves started splashing into the boat, and it was about to sink.
38 Jesus was in the back of the boat with his head on a pillow, and he was asleep. His disciples woke him and said, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re about to drown?”
39 Jesus got up and ordered the wind and the waves to be quiet. The wind stopped, and everything was calm. Mark 4:37-39 (CEV)
As a retired nurse and always gramma, I get phone calls, especially late at night, from mothers about their sick children. Did you ever notice that a fever will go up, a cough gets worse, or the flu symptoms really hit after office hours?
And so it is with problems in my life, they seem bigger and more insurmountable in the night. Like the disciples in the boat in the middle of a hurricane-like storm, I am scared. And remember that many of these men are experienced fishermen. They aren’t going to complain or become frightened by a little wind! This was a storm violent enough to sink the boat!
“God, don’t You care?!!” I have cried out to God at 2 a.m. when problems and worries seem to be suffocating the very life out of me. And God is there to take my call.
I don’t have to diagnose my problem and determine if it is really important. Jesus is there to take the problem, big or small, whatever concerns me, He is there to listen. When I get that phone call or text from a mom, I always remind them that a $25 co-pay is a small price to pay for peace of mind. Especially when its a child, its better to be over cautious than to get into a larger problem because you didn’t want to “bother” with a smaller problem. Jesus feels the same about me. Call on Him before the problems and worries get bigger.
Jesus doesn’t require a co-pay. Jesus doesn’t go on vacation or keep limited hours when He is available. He is there 24/7. Isaiah said,
Do you not know? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:28-31 (NIV)
Even in the times when it seems that God is silent, He is there. He does hear me when I call on Him. God isn’t silent to punish me. Silence can bring focus and call His promises to my mind. I can recall other times when He was tangibly present in my life. Does Jesus care that I feel like I am drowning? Absolutely! He carried a heavy cross when He did not have to. He was rejected and died alone so that I know that He knows what pain and suffering is all about.
Whatever my sickness, wherever my pain, Jesus is there and “on call” 24/7 and 365 days a year. The Doctor is “in.”
Call on Jesus written & sung by Nicole C. Mullen
