Prologue #2: Sinking Ships Lost At Sea

The Devil Says “Jesus Doesn’t Care”

“Teacher, don’t you even care we are going to drown” – these were the cries of help and despair by the disciples (Mark 4), who after previously witnessing countless miracles of Christ, still doubted Him as they faced the stormy waves of life. This is the same message we often give to God when our trials seem never-ending and our prayers feel unanswered. Despite our Deliverer’s perfect track record of many times before saving us before our ship sinks, we become like the disciples who wondered “Jesus, don’t you care?”.

“O Lord, I am calling to you. Please hurry! Listen when I cry for help” (Psalms 141:1) – so many times God hears those words – each time He rescues us from harm. Just because Christ may seem asleep when we need Him the most, He still is there, waiting to save us at the right moment. In our times of fear, He presumably wonders “Why are you so afraid! Do you still not have faith in me?” (Mark 4:40).  Why after quieting our storms do we still struggle to believe?

One major reason is that we are constantly in a spiritual battle versus the devil, “a roaring lion” who uses lies and fear in hopes of devouring people (1 Peter 5:8). To destroy us, Satan tries to create strongholds in us by exerting pressure upon our fears, frailties, sufferings, and painful memories. His deceit works to impair our decision making by influencing what perceptions we “label” of situations and of circumstances. He also likes to make potential misfortune seem more threatening and more likely to occur than in reality, hopes to arouse negative emotions to intolerable levels, lie about what threshold of suffering we can endure and that there is no escape route through the struggle, and finally, make us believe God is not in control. However, “if we only know the truth, it will set us free” (John 8:32).

“Resist the devil, and he will flee” (James 4:7). “Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies and tricks of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11). Two of the most powerful armor pieces is the sword (Word of God) and the shield (faith). Expose Satan as a liar like Jesus did (Matthew 4) with scriptural truths and Satan will run. Faith in the Word of God will guards our minds from Satan’s subtle stretching of the truth. The more we know the Bible, the stronger our faith and the more we know of the truth. And the stronger our faith in the Truth, the more we are able to resist and stand firm against the devil. Once we do that, the waves that crash our boat won’t seem so threatening and we will know that Christ, even though seemingly asleep, is nearby ready to quiet our storms.

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