Sleeping With GOD

In Mark 4:35-41, Jesus and the disciples were crossing over to the other side of a lake, when a furious storm broke out, threatening to fill the boat and drown everyone therein. Jesus was in the bottom of the boat sleeping when the disciples frantically awakened Him with the words “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”(NIV)





In this moment of desperation, when Jesus was seemingly sleeping on the job—when they needed Him most, the disciples were forced to come face to face with, when it came down to it...was their view of who GOD sometimes seemed to be to them, in situations like these! " “Don’t you care if we drown?” "Don't you care about us?!" "Do you really truly love us the way you say you do?!"

This is a derivative of the age old implication that has ever haunted humanity since the very beginning, regarding the forbidden fruit temptation. The serpent tempted Eve with the accusation that GOD didn't love them the way He claimed, as He was withholding special and important blessings from them, as proof of this! 

Today, some of you feel like you are nose deep; overwhelmed to the point of drowning in dire circumstances— while GOD seems to be, as it were, sleeping on the job. At this very moment, some of you feel like you are submerged to the point of choking, on your manifold pain and sorrow! You are flooded with terror...the clock quickly ticking against you, as the rapidly rising tide rushes towards you to meet it's fearful deadline! 

And honestly, here in this place, it can very easily appear that GOD does not truly seem to care as to whether or not you drown! After all, you have drowned before...and He did not seem to demonstrate concern or compassion for you when you absolutely needed Him, most. And even though you may have made excuses for Him, for why He didn't seem to be there for you, many of you have vivid and traumatic memories of frantically flailing in the drowning waters of some of your most overwhelming troubles; waters that ended up having their way in your life...despite your most fervent prayers, propelled by your most determined faith! 

The traumatizing memories of these heartbreaking drownings, haunt your faith as specters in the night; haunting you with conflicting doubts of whether or not GOD really, truly cares about you, or even the terrible circumstances you NOW face! Or is He, as we are often taught, more concerned about our being obedient enough, testing our faith, punishing us for our sins, or withholding His help as some expensive lesson exacted from our lives because of our humanity's inherent weakness...for which we are taught, is for our own good! 

Oh, how this kind of complicated man-based teaching used to explain away our hearts unacknowledged doubts about the LORD's faithfulness...so undermines and HAUNTS our, what is supposed to be simple, yet mountain-moving...child-like faith! "Ooooooooooooo!" Haunts the ghosts of doubt! "Oooooooooooooo!" Haunts the ghosts of doubt in the person and character of GOD, Himself; doubt in how much He really, truly cares about us; doubt even in His, what could sometimes be considered as questionable, love for us! For, how could GOD let someone He supposedly loves and cares for so very much...hurt so very much? "Oooooooooooo!" "Oooooooooooo!"

And yet, these forbidden feelings lurk deep within the most profound wounds of your multi-cracked and broken heart—wounds so profound that many of you may, without realizing it, be in hiding from them! You dare not face them, acknowledge them, much less speak of such feelings aloud for fear that they may escape their cells in your heart that you've compartmentalized them in, hardening your heart to insulate yourself, trapping the fury of your grief therein, for survival and sanity's sake...lest the mere trauma of which, might erupt and rise up like an unstoppable tsunami and violently drown, what for many of GOD's people, may be the remaining vestiges of their already gasping faith! 

But oh, if some of you could dare to be honest with yourselves! And oh, if some of you had the courage to come face to face with some of these unacknowledged, unspoken, hidden from yourself, hurts and disappointments buried so deep, deep— within yourselves..."Ooooooooooooooo!" "Ooooooooooooooo!" "Oooooooooooooooooooo!"

THE ROOT OF THE MATTER

The root of the matter all boils down to whether or not we choose to accept, from our hearts, that the LORD truly does care for us...enough to let Him care for us! Or, when our faith in His care for us is challenged, will we decide against resting in His care...and instead, choose to care for ourselves! It is here, in this ever cycling fork in the proverbial road, that decisions have been continuously made that have resulted in reducing our lives that are supposed to glorious temples of the Holy Ghost into a desolately flooded and broken down...haunted houses! 

Consider this. The furious storm threatened to fill the boat, drowning Jesus and His disciples! After being frantically awakened by His disciples, from what was apparently a deep sleep, Jesus stopped the storm, cold...with a simple rebuke. Afterwards, He asked them "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?"

In other words, Jesus was asking them "Why are you so afraid and quick to believe, that I don't care about you?" "Do you still have no faith?" Or, "Do you still have no faith in my love for you?" In this, Jesus was modeling a lesson that would prove to be among the most important lessons that any of us could ever learn from Him! He proved with a simple storm-stopping rebuke, that He could have hushed the storm at anytime. But sometimes, the Father may want you to ride out your storm...like Jesus Himself, was doing before His disciples frantically awakened Him from His rest! Jesus wanted His disciples to join Him in the rest or to...sleep 'with' Him! 

The same is true for you, even now! The LORD could stop your storm at any time, if He wanted to. He could instantly heal you or deliver you at anytime, if He wanted to! He could immediately open up the windows of Heaven and send you your badly needed provision at anytime, if He wanted to! But sometimes, He wants us to learn how to ride out our storm...to walk it out with Him by faith, by learning what it means to enter into the rest, or to...sleep 'with' GOD! 

Among the storms primary purposes in your life, is to drive you more deeply...more intimately into resting in the arms of Jesus!

Remember, Jesus was in the same boat, in the same storm, as the disciples. Maybe even more so because He was in the bottom of the boat where the vessel was rapidly filling up, first. Therefore, Jesus was the closest to the danger...the closest to potentially, drowning!

The enemy was challenging Jesus to rise up—react to the storm by taking control of the situation! (For which He later would for the sake of His freaked out disciples but, not for His own sake) Instead, Jesus rested all the more in the Father's sovereign control—resisting the urge to take control of His circumstances but rather, keeping the control in the Father's hands! 

The deeper the water got, the deeper Jesus fell into His sleep...refusing to react to the situation but rather, staying asleep! "Wake up!" The storm furied! To which Jesus dozed! "zzzzzzzzzzzz!" The storm grew angrier...and uglier! "WAKE UP! DO SOMETHING!" To which Jesus snoozed, even more deeply! "ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!" The storm's pressure increased! "WAKE UP!!! YOU'VE GOT TO DO SOMETHING!!! IT'S UP TO YOU!!!" WAKE UP!!!!! To which Jesus snored, all the more deeply! "ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!" "ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!"

On the whole, OUR most devastating drownings have resulted from allowing the storm to wake us up in the most critical of times! But, Jesus knew that the Father had Him...had His back, and He REFUSED to be moved or frightened out of the arms of His FAITHFUL Father! Likewise, Jesus has you...has your back! His desire is for you to likewise REFUSE to be rousted from His faithful embrace! He means for you to rest in the arms of His faithfulness! It is what He longs for, from you! For great and tender is the intimacy of this place, with Him! For truly, the storm is the bedchamber of GOD! (Selah)

It is not coincidental that lovers typically, almost traditionally, tend to be intimate at night...! It is a sign that the most intimate moments shared between two lovers is mostly...in the night; in the darkest of times! Yes, right there in the middle of our darkest storms! He becomes manifest—to pour out His love upon you, and to experience your love poured out upon Him, as well! For surely, the storm is the bedchamber of GOD!

Therefore, let the threatening waves of drowning waters, that would set themselves round about you, for harm...instead, serve as catalysts, covering you as a blanket, enhancing the warmth between two lovers...tightly holding each other, in the night! "zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!" The enemy means to use this fiery storm you are now facing to burn you out of your intimate rest with Jesus! The LORD instead, means for this firery tribulation to provide greater warmth within your love affair with Him, and even feed the fires of passion burning between you and He who is the lover of your soul! "zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!" For surely, the storm is the bedchamber of GOD!

Remember, when Jesus did take authority over a situation it was for the sake of His disciples, or mostly for the sake of others but, not so much for Himself! He was able to be sensitive as to when He was to rebuke the storm, and when He was to ride it out! And most of the time, we today can often tell the difference in our own lives. But, a clue for those of you who struggle in discerning the difference between the 'REBUKE' and the 'REST'! It's when your storm successfully resists your best efforts to control it, even by faith! And even your most fervent prayers, propelled by your most determined faith, seem ineffective and powerless, before your storm!

It is then that you should ignore any complicated performance-based teachings on what to do and what not do, that the Body Of Christ has received over the past number of years! It is then that there is only one solution. There has always been only one solution! Yes! That's right..."zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz"!

Share by: