Are you familiar with those words? Let me explain. You’ve heard those high pitch
beeps that break into the radio or the tv only to be followed with the message, “this
is only a test.” I feel like the emergency broadcast system has inside information of
when my favorite song is playing or the game I’ve been wanting to watch is on tv.
BEEP…BEEP…BEEP. Tests can really stir my emotions.
Speaking of tests, today we find ourselves in a test (COVID19) as a community and
a nation. It has interrupted our day to day, our finances, our gatherings and yes
our shopping. It stirs our emotions, “of all times, why now?”
In Mark chapter 4 we read…
37 A great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking over the boat, so
that the boat was already being swamped. 38 He was in the stern, sleeping on
the cushion. So they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher! Don’t you care
that we’re going to die?” 39 He got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the
sea, “Silence! Be still!” The wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40 Then
he said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
BEEP…BEEP…BEEP. Talk about an interruption! A storm with waves filling the boat
would definitely disrupt your favorite song or the game you've been waiting to
watch. If that’s not enough, as they look for help they find Jesus asleep. Tests
cause us to ask, “Don’t you care?” Faith waits for His response. Jesus wasn’t asleep
because He didn’t care, He was asleep because He was in control. All He had to do
was speak. He knew it and they didn’t believe it.
Maybe today you feel the virus that is testing our world has you asking the same
question, “Don’t you care?” Feeling like my world is forever changed seems a lot
like being in a boat that’s being filled with water. We worry Jesus doesn’t care, it
feels like He is asleep. Let me assure you, Jesus cares, He’s not asleep and He is in
complete control. He asked the disciples and He asks you, “Why are you afraid?”
Keep your faith and trust that He is in control. He knows it, do you believe it?
BEEP…BEEP…BEEP. After all this is only a test.
Until we see each other again
Pastor Chad