I Will Not Be Rattled By External Conflict

“I will not be rattled by external conflict.”

And some days you have to say it on repeat all day long.

“I will not be rattled by external conflict.”

Can you say it with me?  Try it…

“I will not be rattled by external conflict.”

Because some days we just are.  One flip of the morning news and you're already stressed out.  One scroll through social media and your anxiety level has already reached max capacity.

And then the Lord, in His kindness leads me straight to Mark, chapter 4.  And there neatly tucked away in the scriptures is verse 38.  “Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with His head on a cushion. The disciples woke Him up shouting, ‘Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?’”

Oh boy.  Here He goes again messy up my plan of self-pity.

But do you see something there embedded within the text?

“Jesus was sleeping.”  He was sleeping?  He was sleeping!

The winds were howling, the rain was falling, and a mighty storm was raging… and Jesus was… sleeping.

This all is great proof of His humanity. But I think it’s more than that.

Maybe we find Him sleeping because He doesn’t recognize the storms the same way we do. Could it be He’s simply not troubled by bad weather?

Here we see Jesus modeling a behavior that we can emulate.... fearlessness in the face of stormy seas.

Ahh... and it got me thinking... could we be on the lookout for storms in which we can exercise even small amounts of faith in?

Because storms of all kind are inevitable. And isn’t it our conduct under trials that is our greatest examination of all?

Christ had peace amidst the storm. And with Christ aboard their boat, the disciples had every reason to believe their spiritual existence was safe. So it is with us!

The Bible says He will never leave us or forsake us. Then why do we behave in a way that disaffirms this?

Jesus remains sleeping because He’s not rattled by external conflict.  Then so shouldn’t we remain un-rattled by external conflict?