Mark 4:36–41 (NKJV) — 36Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. 37And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. 38But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”39Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. 40But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” 41And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!”
As we see Jesus and His disciples crossing the sea, He leaves the work of transportation to those best qualified, as he sleeps and rests in the stern of the boat. I remember what God said to Moses in Exodus 33:14, "My presence will go before you, and I will give you rest." But as the storm came, so came the fear. There is something wonderful about the peace of God that surpasses all understanding (Phil. 4:7), for it quiets the spirit. When our trust is in the Lord, and we live by that trust, there is no storm in life that can rock our boat! The disciples however, did not have this peace at this point in their discipleship, for they could only see the storm and the water filling up the hull of the ship. Like so many that accuse God of not caring about their plight, the disciples wake up Jesus and accuse Him of not caring. But God always cares as Jesus certainly did, and He calms the storm. Something here occurred to me as I was reading through this passage again. Jesus calmed the storm and calmed their hearts, but it never says that He drained the boat. The absence of it doesn't mean He didn't, but we have to wonder if He let them bail it out as a reminder that fretting over such things and not trusting God, brings its own problems?