Mark 4, Matthew 8, Luke 8

I picture a dad trying to get a nap on the couch while his rambunctious toddlers are wrestling on the floor. Giggles turn into crying and shouting at each other. So the father sits up, and in his sternest Dad-voice barks, “SETTLE DOWN!”

I see the toddlers sit down in mid-strike, afraid to move, eyes wide open and mouths firmly shut. Dad is not kidding.

I kind of think that’s how the wind and waves reacted when Jesus sat up in the boat and barked, “SETTLE!” Scripture says He rebuked the wind and waves. He wasn’t kidding. And the wind and waves obeyed immediately, probably afraid to move.

I know that’s not necessarily the main lesson here. I’ve heard more than one great lesson on Jesus’ power and the disciples faith from these passages. Today, I see it as a lesson about obedience.

Maybe that’s because God has been working in my heart about my own obedience. I am reminded that God is serious when He says something.

Be holy.

Be separate.

Confess sin.

Go make disciples.

Love one another.

Worship me only.

I don’t read in Scripture about a little renegade wave that impishly slapped up against the boat Jesus was in, testing to see if He was serious. Yet sometime I think I do that.

“Just one more tiny sin, God. Look at me. I’m so special, how could you get mad at little old me?”

The answer is that our Holy God spoke. Period. Disobedience is not an option.

After all, He is God – and even the wind and waves obey Him.