Rest is Trust

 A while back, on my daily thankful posts that I made on Facebook, I posted a meme that said "Something I love about Jesus is that he napped often."  In that post, I gave thanks for a moment to rest after a busy day.  I have a very intellectual friend that read that and took me to task.  How did I know Jesus took naps?  The Bible doesn't say he napped often. I remember laughing to myself about the literalness of his statements.  I remember telling him that Jesus knew the value of rest and He rested when He needed to....this was just a fun way of saying that. 

One of my favoritest Bible stories is a time when Jesus was actually napping. (Yas!  Go, Jesus!)  I got to share that story with my Pre-Ks this morning.  I really kind of got into it...because it is super cool.  I mean suuuuuupppppppeeeerrrr cool.  I loved seeing their eyes get big and their excitement grow. So let's get into it....

In November, Tim and I went on a trip to Israel  Dream come true.  Literally.  One of the places we went to was the Sea of Galilee. (swoon!)  There is so much cooool that happened on the Sea of Galilee and I got to go there.    

Isn't that just magnificent?   This is where our story took place.  Jesus and his disciples were out in a boat in the middle of the Sea of Galilee.  The water in this picture is pretty calm; but in our story, a great big storm was raging.  The wind was blowing.  Rain was pouring down.  Waves were huge and crashing over the sides of the boat.  Jesus' disciples were terrified.  They thought for sure they would drown.  I've always wondered about their fear in the back of my mind.  A boat big enough for 12 disciples and Jesus on the verge of drowning?  The Sea of Galilee isn't actually a sea...it's a lake.  

When we were in Israel, we also got to see a first century boat that was found during a drought year on the Sea of Galilee.  A FIRST CENTURY boat.  I can hardly wrap my head around the fact that it survived for 2000 years in the mud.  Here it is:

 

No one is claiming that this was the actual boat that Jesus and his disciples were riding in, but it is an example of what it might have been like. I suppose it could have been a bit bigger. Take a look at the construction though....definitely not modern made.  It sure made the disciples' fears a little more understandable.  

The crazy thing to me about this story, is that while the wind roared, the rain poured and the waves crashed, Jesus was in the front of the boat ASLEEP! When you start thinking about it, there was probably no way that Jesus was staying dry as he napped.  To add to the chaos of the storm, the disciples' panic probably was quite a cacophony! Yet, through it all,  Jesus slept.  

Now comes my favorite part.  As the disciples' panic rises, they finally decide to wake Jesus up.  "Lord, save us! We are going to die!" I love Jesus' response: 

"Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?" Then He got up, and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was [at once] a great and wonderful calm [a perfect peacefulness]. Matthew 8:26

Can you imagine?  At the voice of Jesus, the wind, the rain, and the waves instantly obeyed.  As if they had a mind and will of their own, they stopped.  There was calm.  

So my littles learned Matthew 8:27

"What kind of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him.?" 

 One of the things that I wrote down in my sermon notes a few weeks ago was the words: "to rest is to trust." I was reminded of that today.  I'm in a season of learning to rest while in the midst of a season of upheaval.  I'm learning to trust that Jesus is with me....and He's in control.  My sister showed me a beautiful song while on our Israel trip.   It is titled "It is Well."  It has been a balm to my battered heart. My anthem, coming from this song, is this:

So let go, my soul, and trust in Him

The waves and wind still know His name.

Jesus, calm my storm.