Questioning God's Care

One thing that we can count on in life is that we will face suffering. Suffering may take many forms and be experienced differently, but difficulty is the way. Even today, we have people in this room who experience physical suffering, emotional anguish, mental trials, or even spiritual wrestling. As we opened praying this morning for the persecuted church, it is worth pointing out that there are reasons we face various kinds of trials or sufferings. Some must pay the ultimate cost to bow their knees in allegiance to King Jesus. The type of suffering I envision in this series isn’t necessarily offering help for those persecuted (although I think what I say will benefit those situations) as much as supporting what the elders consistently see, hear, and pray for. To put it simply, we are hurting people. I don’t want to put my head in the sand and not miss the reality of where so many of us are. So, as we begin this year, we will take some time to deal with suffering.

In his book Suffering, Paul Tripp says, “Suffering doesn’t so much change your heart as expose what has been in your heart all along. Difficulty has an amazing ability to reveal what’s inside us. Trials reveal your true thoughts and desires, where you have been looking for life, where you have sought meaning, and where you have looked to give you hope. Suffering will always expose the true nature of your relationship to and communion with God.” Proverbs instructs us to guard our hearts with all diligence for the springs of life flow from it. So, this series is going after our hearts as we experience suffering.

I thought of many places in the Bible where we could go to address suffering. A few years ago, we did a series on the book of Job, which might be helpful for you to revisit. But, for the next few weeks, we will land on the four Gospels and their account of Jesus and the disciples in the boat. I envision this opening sermon as a place to dig into the heaviness of suffering and its expressions. We often think we're all alone and God has forgotten about us, much like the disciples in today’s passage. So, I’ll be trying to get us to open up about our desperation.

The Bible is brutally honest with all the different kinds of suffering we face. The Bible treats our suffering as real, significant, and often life-changing human experiences. As we scan the Bible, we see things like: “Disease, rape, weakness, murder, corrupt government, racism, famine, domestic violence, injustice, war, torture, betrayal, poverty, and death.” At the same time, the Bible records the cries of sufferers. As Paul Tripp has said, “The Psalms are in the Bible to keep us honest about the messy nature of faith in this broken world.” If we break down the content of the Psalms, roughly 44% relates to suffering and sorrow. “And, most notably, the Bible presents us with a suffering Savior. There was no relief to the travail of Jesus. It began with the ignominious conditions of His birth, to have to immediately flee with His parents for His life, to being essentially homeless, to being despised and rejected, to facing cruel injustice while being betrayed and forsaken by those closest to Him, to facing torture and crucifixion and, finally, the ultimate torture of having the Father turn His back on Him. None of us would be willing to exchange our life, no matter how hard it has been, for the life of Jesus while He was on earth. He suffered not just in one way but in every way, and He suffered not just for some time but for His entire life. The One to whom we cry, when we cry out in pain, knows our pain because suffering of some kind was His experience from the moment of His birth until His final breath.” Today, I hope all of us in this room can lean into Jesus, marvel at Him, and find help for suffering in who He is and what He came to do. Therefore, join me this morning as we see 3 times when our desperation speaks…

Read Mark 4:35-41 (This is God’s Word; thanks be to God)

3 times when our desperation speaks…

First, I. We will question God’s care when we know He is with us. (35-37) 35 On that day, when evening had come, [Jesus] said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” 36 And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. 37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling.

I have a couple more introductory thoughts. In Mark’s Gospel, the context of this “boys in the boat” incident comes on the heels of parables about hearing God’s Word. The parable of the sower with its explanation, the lamp under a basket, the parable of the seed growing, and the parable of the mustard seed have been Mark’s fast-paced way of dropping story after story for us. We were left hopeful as they hop into the boat: “33 With many such parables, he spoke the word to them, as they could hear it. 34 He did not speak to them without a parable, but he explained everything privately to his disciples.” So, this Jesus, this suffering Son of Man, is dropping the truth for His disciples. Will they get it?

I need to say another opening word about this desperation and questioning because some in this room have been taught that any kind of doubt is wrong when you become a believer. I like how Paul Tripp helpfully cracks the door to what we’re discussing today: “God’s ways can confuse you. His ways are not like our ways. His plans often don’t mesh with the plans we have for ourselves. What God knows is good for us doesn’t always look good to us. He takes us places we would never choose to go. There are times when how He delivers what He’s promised looks to us as if He’s breaking His promise. He doesn’t warn us ahead of time before He initiates change in our lives. He doesn’t invite us into the counsel of His secret will. He will not submit His sovereignty to our sense of what is best. He will exercise His power to deliver not what we want but what He knows we need.

“Because of this, at the street level, the life of faith is always a struggle for trust. In this struggle of trust, you will be left with questions about what God is doing. If the doubt of wonderment causes you to come to God with sincere questions, asking is an act of faith. You’re not rebelling against Him; you’re not running from Him. You’re not demanding answers but crying out of your confusion for the help only He can give. The doubt of wonderment is a normal part of a healthy life of faith. God won’t always make sense to you, and when He doesn’t, bringing your doubts to Him is good…. It’s spiritually healthy to bring your confusion to the One who has no confusion.

So, as we jump into the text, Jesus encourages the disciples to cross the lake with Him. With other boats, they take Jesus and load up to travel. And, v.37 gives us the problem: a great windstorm arose, waves were breaking into the boat, and the boat was filling with water. I don’t know if you’ve ever been out on the water when a storm pops up, but they can happen quickly and unexpectedly. The super obvious thing is that Jesus is with them in the boat when they face this storm. They didn’t get in the boat expecting this storm, but it still came.

This happens to us, too. We know God is with us. He’s promised that – surely, I am with you, even to the end of the age. His Holy Spirit walks with those of us who know Him through life. But suffering comes into our lives quickly and unexpectedly. Often, we don’t expect things to happen the way they do. I didn’t intend to injure myself when I tried to lift that 800-pound garden bed, but I knew my shoulder was gone instantaneously. That’s probably part of your story. You will question God’s care, knowing fully that Jesus is with you. 

Secondly, II. We will question God’s care when the situation becomes dire. (38) 38 But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”

This is another obvious point, but the obvious truths are sometimes the most meaningful. These disciples were in the boat with Jesus, and those who had fished before had seen their fair share of storms. It wasn’t that they hadn’t ever been in a situation like this. They had even seen and understood things about Jesus, but what Jesus would do here would boggle their minds and hearts. But, in the boat in the midst of this difficulty, you get the idea: all hands are on deck, and there He was in the stern, asleep on a cushion. You almost get the idea that Jesus deliberately went to sleep because He’s calm with faith in His Father. He will demonstrate this in all of life. Nothing seems to shake Him. When we face our sufferings or dire circumstances, we tremble, get anxious, dig deep, or whatever. Jesus leans into the confidence He has in His Father. His faith—unswerving trust—allows Him to face this storm, the religious leaders who opposed Him, sicknesses, needy people, the prospects of the cross in Gethsemane, rejection of people, betrayal, denial, Pilate, Herod, and walk away with confidence in His Father. 

The disciples are NOT like Jesus. They know something about Jesus but question Him when the situation becomes dire. So, they woke Jesus and said to Him, “Teacher, don’t you care that we are perishing?” “We’re dying here; how can you sleep?” That is likely something you say, as well. And, I want you to confess this with the confidence of a disciple, “God, don’t you care?” These questions are a way of confessing how dire the situation is and how much you need Him. I don’t take this as a cry of people who don’t trust Him. I take this to be the cry of people so hurt, in such a dire mess and distress, that we have nothing to confess that we need Him and His care. Our desperation speaks when we question God’s care as the situation becomes dire.

Third and finally, III. We will question God’s care when we forget who He is. (39-41) 39 And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40 He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” 41 And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

Jesus wakes up, rebukes the wind, and speaks to the sea. If you’ve read Genesis 1, you can almost picture the song that called the waters to separate from the skies, which seems awfully familiar to the sea. And, in this case, the command is: “Peace! Be Still!” The wind obeys, stops raging, and there is great calm on the waters. After this, Jesus turns to these disciples, who, in this chapter, have been taught about how the Word gets sown so that fruit is born thirty, sixty, or hundredfold. He says to them (and us), “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” And, they were filled with even more fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and sea obey him?” Like the disciples, we get caught up in that quandary: we know who Jesus is, and yet, when the going gets tough, our practical theology catches up to reality, and we forget who He is. We could still toggle the correct answer, but fear limits our faith.

And, again, here’s Jesus, this “non-anxious presence.” We live in a world that is more nervous than ever. If you have a newer car, they come loaded with sensors that beep when we get too close to the lines or the person in front of us (or so I’ve been told). Jesus trusts His Father. In contrast, the disciples are terrified. One person said in this story, “Jesus is wild and untamable and will burst all of our categories.” So, what’s scarier for the disciples is who this God in the flesh, Jesus, is. Who is this that can speak and calm winds and waves? Who is this who can step into the craziness of our suffering and be a non-anxious presence, confident that His Father is accomplishing all that He needs to in each and every moment? This is Jesus. He’s there in the midst of the storm, beckoning us to toss fear and all the lack of faith we have off the boat so that we can settle into His peace. We will question God’s care when we forget who He is. And, even though we don’t deserve it, He will show us who He is through the storm. 

In conclusion, today, we’ve seen 3 times when our desperation speaks…

I. We will question God’s care when we know He is with us. (35-37)

II. We will question God’s care when the situation becomes dire. (38)

III. We will question God’s care when we forget who He is. (39-41)

I hope you feel the call of this sermon. It’s really inviting you back near to Jesus. You likely have all kinds of questions, and He’s coming near for you. For some of you, your suffering keeps you from trusting Him. You have a “if this is what God’s like, I don’t want any part of Him” unbelief. And, today, I hope you can see Jesus in the boat showing us who God is, how He comes near, and reminds us who He is. Trust in Him.

All of us are invited close. This reminded me of an interaction from one of the darker books of C.S. Lewis’s children’s stories, The Silver Chair. Jill is a human in Narnia, and the Lion is the book's Christ figure. Jill comes near and finds a stream, only to see a large lion near it. Aslan, the Lion, speaks to her…

“Are you not thirsty?" said the Lion.

"I am dying of thirst," said Jill.

"Then drink," said the Lion.

"May I — could I — would you mind going away while I do?" said Jill.

The Lion answered this only by a look and a very low growl. And as Jill gazed at its motionless bulk, she realized that she might as well have asked the whole mountain to move aside for her convenience.

The delicious rippling noise of the stream was driving her nearly frantic.

"Will you promise not to — do anything to me, if I do come?" said Jill.

"I make no promise," said the Lion.

Jill was so thirsty now that, without noticing it, she had come a step nearer.

"Do you eat girls?" she said.

"I have swallowed up girls and boys, women and men, kings and emperors, cities and realms," said the Lion. It didn't say this as if it were boasting, nor as if it were sorry, nor as if it were angry. It just said it.

"I daren't come and drink," said Jill.

"Then you will die of thirst," said the Lion.

"Oh dear!" said Jill, coming another step nearer. "I suppose I must go and look for another stream then."

"There is no other stream," said the Lion.”

Today, all that you need amid your suffering is Jesus Christ. Will you press into Him with honest questions? Will you ask Him to strengthen your faith in the midst of it? Our sufferings are amazing times to know Jesus and make Him known, so let’s press into Him that we may glorify and enjoy Him forever.