Genesis 22:1-14: why are we so fearful?

Sunday, August 14, 2005

why are we so fearful?

thank God for today's sermon by rev tan eng boo. it seemed like the msg was directed at me and boy, thank God for the reminder! today's msg was focused on mark 4:35-41, mark's account of Jesus calming the storm, but 2 tim 1:7 was the key verse: For God hath not given us the Spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

in mark 4:35-41, we see the disciples at sea with Jesus when a storm took place. this account is repeated in matthew 8 & luke 8. the storm tt the disciples went thru, is equivalent to our storms of life. it says in 1 peter 4:12 tt it is not strange for us to go thru trials and tribulations. the storm of life is no respector of persons and we go thru them everyday. no one is ever free from troubles, even if you're a Christian. however, just like Jesus was with the disciples during the storm, He is with us in our troubles. Jesus was with the disciples, fast asleep in the stern of the ship (note tt He wasn't anxious at all!) but the disciples asked Him "don't you care if we perish?" how often, we are like the disciples & accuse Jesus of not caring abt us! the disciples shouldn't have worried, since their Saviour was with them!

the disciples were focusing on the waves and troubles during the storm. yes, it is not wrong for us to pay attn to our troubles. it is impt for us to take note of the problems we face, but we mustn't allow these troubles to overwhelm us. as we look at our troubles, we often allow ourselves to be overwhelmed by them & forget tt the Lord is with us! in joshua 1:5, God promised joshua to be with him thru his battles. psalm 55:22 says "cast thy burden on the Lord & He shall sustain thee". God will sustain us!

it wasn't enough for the disciples tt Jesus was with them. they forgot tt Jesus is always in control & the first thing Jesus did when He woke up, was to rebuke them (in mark 4: "you have no faith at all!"), not calm the storm. we're like the disciples, always expecting Jesus to perform a miracle for us. we want to see Jesus working quickly, but tt's when we fail to see Him with us. as rev tan spoke, i felt so guilty abt last nite when i was unwell. like wat rev tan said, when we're in need, we often forget God is with us & when we get desperate, we expect God to work immediately. tt was exactly wat i did, the pain was so terrible, i got desperate and asked God to take away my pain immediately, forgetting tt He was with me...

indeed, the more we look at our problems, the more our faith shrinks. i pray tt i'd learn to practise my faith & trust the Lord after today's impt reminder!

psalm 56:3 - when i am afraid, i will trust in Thee.

o Lord, please increase my faith...

1 Comments:

At 9:05 pm, Blogger missyrica said...

That message applies to so many of us! It is a good message that I've kept in mind.. Trying to remind myself now too... Cuz I just feel really downtrodden these days... But no matter what, God loves us all..

And we should do the same for Him too!

 

Post a Comment

<< Home