He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. Mark 4:39

In Mark 4, Jesus had been teaching to large crowds, telling parables. The last parable He tells is the parable of the mustard seed. A mustard seed is the smallest of all seeds that grows into a huge plant. The Kingdom of GOD is like a mustard seed, a small amount of faith grows into a huge plant of discipleship.

After this day of preaching Jesus and the disciples get on a boat. Jesus goes below deck and falls asleep. A storm comes up and the disciples freak out. They go get Jesus and basically say “Wake up! Why are you sleeping while we’re dying? Don’t you love us at all!!!” {insert flailing arms here}

Jesus replies with verse 39. Then he asks them “why are you freaking out? Don’t you trust? Don’t you have faith? Mercy, we just talked about this!”

I’m paraphrasing here. Also adding some panic and sass and eye rolling. Because that’s probably how I would reply. Mercy, I am so glad that GOD is GOD and I am not!

Anyway…

This verse and this story is an invitation to us from Jesus. It’s an invitation to not worry. I am a recovering worry wart. I was a champion worrier. I used to lay in bed at night worrying that I had offended someone in the course of the day. Maybe they didn’t laugh at my smart remark or something equally ridiculous.

Until I heard it put this way: worrying is a way of saying you don’t trust Jesus to act. Uh oh!

That’s not what I wanted. I want Jesus to act on my behalf for my good and His glory. So, each day I start by turning over my worries to Him. I invite you to do the same.