God, where are you?
Do you even care?
God, I've been looking for a job for months and months and months,
and it seems like nothing is out there,
and I'm pretty sure that if I don't find a job soon,
my family is not going to be able to stay in our house
because we can't afford rent anymore.
Where are you?
God, we just got back from the doctors,
and the report doesn't look good.
And if it was my health, that'd be one thing,
but watching my kid have to go through that,
I don't know if I can handle this.
Do you even care, God?
I think these two questions, God, where are you,
and God, do you care,
are at the center of a lot of our questions to God and about God.
I would guess that pretty much everyone in this room
at some point in their lives has asked those questions
in some form or another.
God, where are you?
God, do you care?
There's questions that reveal to us the fact,
or that show the fact that we live in a broken world.
We're broken people surrounded by brokenness,
and we want a place of safety and a place of refuge
in the midst of that brokenness.
We cry out,
God, where are you?
And if you're here,
do you care?
Do you care about these storms
that are happening in our lives?
Are you with us through them?
And in the Christmas season,
these questions become even more pronounced
because we talk about things like hope and peace
and love and joy.
And they're such wonderful, beautiful ideas,
but for so many people in our world,
they're things that are dreams and not realities.
And yet, the Bible tells us
that there's something that happened,
something amazing that happened on Christmas.
that can give us true love, joy, hope, peace.
And so today, we're going to look at a story
from the book of Mark that you just heard read
about Jesus and his disciples on a boat.
And we're going to hear his disciples ask the same question,
do you even care?
And we're going to see what Jesus' answer to them is
and how that connects to our lives today.
And spoiler alert, he does care,
and that makes a huge difference.
So my name is Eric.
Welcome to Watermark Church.
We're so glad to have you here with us today.
If you have your Bible or bulletin,
you can flip open to the story.
And the first thing I want us to see in this story
about Jesus and the disciples on the boat
is a set of contrasting reactions.
Contrasting reactions.
So if you're following the storyline,
Jesus has been teaching.
He's been teaching and teaching and teaching.
There's so many crowds that he has to go out
on a boat on the lake
so that he can speak to the crowds
and not get smushed or wet.
And he finishes teaching,
and he says to his disciples,
all right, let's go across the other side of the lake.
You know, the crowds are exhausting.
Let's get some rest.
Let's go away.
And the disciples say, all right.
The disciples, they're Jesus' followers.
A lot of them are fishermen.
They know this lake like the back of their hand.
A lot of them have spent thousands of nights
out on this exact lake fishing again and again and again.
And so for them, a trip across shouldn't be a big deal.
Jesus says, let's get in the boat.
Let's go across.
They say, sure.
They head out to sea.
And as they get to sea, a great storm hits.
Now, like I said, these guys were fishermen.
They had been in the sea before.
They had probably faced lots of storms before.
They were experienced in facing storms.
But this one wasn't just any storm.
It was a great storm, a furious storm.
I think in life, each of us faces storms.
Each of us faces difficulties and issues and problems,
whether that's in our job, in our relationships.
Jesus and his disciples on the boat, they faced a literal storm.
There was rain splashing down from the sky.
There were waves that were crashing over the edge of the boat.
The boat was getting full of water.
And the disciples were doing everything they possibly could to keep the boat upright and keep everyone on it alive.
They, obviously, are terrified, as I think any of us would be in that situation.
When we think about boats today, we think about, like, huge cruise liners that can face any storm.
These guys were not on that.
They were on a fishing boat that was maybe as long as this stage right here and made out of wood.
And there were waves coming up, crashing over.
I'm sure they thought it was just a matter of time until one of the waves split their boat in half.
They were scrambling.
They were panicking.
They were afraid.
Can you relate to the disciples?
Being in a situation in life where you're doing everything you can to fix it, to make it better.
And yet, no matter how hard you try, it seems like it just keeps getting worse.
And there is nothing that you are able to do to fix it.
And yet, they keep trying and keep trying.
And if we look, we see a contrasting reaction in Jesus.
The disciples are panicked.
The disciples are rushing and hurrying and trying to make everything better.
And Jesus is napping.
How is he able to do that?
That's my big question when I read this story.
How on earth is Jesus able to nap in this situation?
For me, I remember when we first got married, my wife and I had a big discussion because I love blackout curtains in the bedroom.
Because I like it pitch black when I sleep.
I like quiet and dark and calm and a soft mattress.
No commotion.
No waves splashing in on me.
No people running around screaming.
No my life being in danger.
I like blackout curtains.
I like a soft mattress underneath me.
Jesus did not have those things on the boat.
And yet, he was sleeping calmly.
How is he able to do that?
When I think about my life, back to my desire for comfort when I sleep, I realize that as much as the environment and the darkness and the quiet helps me sleep,
there's actually one much bigger thing that can get in the way of me sleeping.
Stress and anxiety.
If I have a fight with a friend, I can lay in bed awake for hours.
Replaying the conversation in my head over and over.
I should have said this.
Can't believe I said that.
Next time, I'm going to fix it.
Next time I see this friend.
Maybe I should give them a call right now.
No, they're probably asleep.
Maybe I'll call them first thing in the morning tomorrow.
But then when I call them, what should I say?
And I replay everything in my head over and over and over because I'm stressed and I'm anxious.
And stress and anxiety get in my way of sleeping.
And I think something that we realize when we look at this story is the disciples are stressed and anxious.
They're running around.
They're afraid.
They're trying to save their boat.
And Jesus, in contrast to the disciples, has peace.
He has rest in the midst of this raging, furious, massive storm.
If you look at the original language, the word used to describe the storm is mega.
It's a mega storm.
And he's asleep on the boat.
Because he has perfect faith in God's provision and protection of him during that time.
When we were little kids, my brothers and I, we'd sleep in our beds.
And in the middle of the night, if we woke up and we were scared, we would walk down to mom and dad's room.
And we'd walk in there and we'd have our blanket and our pillow with us.
We'd lie down on the floor next to them.
And we'd be able to fall asleep.
Even though it was less comfortable than our beds, we were around the most powerful people that we knew.
And we knew that the most powerful people we knew loved us and would protect us in that moment.
And so even though we were in less than ideal circumstances, we were on a hard floor instead of a soft bed,
we were able to sleep soundly.
Because we knew that we were safe and protected in the presence of mom and dad.
And I think that's exactly what is happening with Jesus on the boat right here.
The disciples are panicked.
They don't know where God is right now.
They don't know whether God cares about them.
But Jesus does.
Jesus knows that God has perfect love for him.
And so he's able to lie down and sleep in the midst of the storm.
While the disciples have a wrong reaction that leads to desperation,
Jesus has a right understanding of God's love for him
that allows him to lie down and get rest in the midst of the greatest storm that anyone on that boat had ever faced.
And this contrasting reaction leads to a confused question.
Because when the disciples look at Jesus' rest,
they don't see perfect faith.
They don't see confidence in God's provision.
They see apathy.
They look at Jesus and they don't think,
oh, he's resting perfectly in God's love.
They think he doesn't care about what happens to us.
He doesn't care if we die.
He just cares about his nap.
And they go to him and they wake him.
And they yell out,
teacher, don't you care that we're all going to die?
Now this is a ridiculous scenario, just by the way.
The disciples are fishermen.
They've been on this sea thousands of times.
They've faced plenty of storms.
They know what they're doing on the water.
Jesus was trained as a carpenter.
And in the storm,
the fishermen on the boat
come to get the carpenter to help them save the boat.
If you want a little modern equivalent of this,
imagine that you work on the trading floor at HSBC.
And you look at your computer screen
and all of a sudden everything goes red.
And the markets are crashing
and you have no idea what to do.
And they're going down, down, down.
And you're like,
surely they're going to fix themselves.
Any moment now, I hope?
And they don't.
They keep going down, down, down.
And I'm pretty sure in Hong Kong,
they have a fail-safe, right?
That if the market goes down a certain amount,
it's supposed to stop trading immediately.
But you reach the fail-safe point
and it just keeps going down, down, down.
The market's down 20%.
And you turn to your neighbor
and you're like, what's going on?
And they say, I don't know.
And you look back and it's down 30%.
And you try everything you can figure out
to save your portfolio
as you watch everything that you've been building up
crumble to pieces.
And then you think, I know what to do.
I'm going to call Tobin.
He can fix this.
That's what the disciples did on the boat.
The fishermen call up the carpenter
to come save their boat.
It's like the banker calling up the pastor
to say, hey, fix this market crash.
But here's the difference.
The disciples knew that there was something special
about Jesus.
They knew that he was powerful
in a way that none of them were.
They knew that there was something unique about him
that none of them had going for them.
But you notice when they ask their question,
they don't actually come to him
and ask for help at first.
They don't come and say, hey,
can you do something about this situation?
No, they come to him and they ask him
the much more pressing question on their hearts,
do you even care?
Jesus, look at this situation.
We're about to die.
And how can you sleep through this?
We thought you loved us.
But now we know that maybe you don't.
Because if you truly loved us,
you'd obviously be doing something right now.
They misinterpreted his response of faith
as a response of apathy.
And because of that,
they didn't turn to him for help.
They turned to him to find out
whether he actually cared.
And because they weren't confident
of Jesus' love for them,
because they weren't confident
about the fact that Jesus cared about them,
they were scrambling around in fear,
anxiety, and stress,
trying to fix the situation
rather than turning to him,
which would have been the simple solution
if they had known that he cared about them.
I think the same thing happens to us a lot of times.
Something goes wrong at work.
We maybe say like,
God, please do something.
And then we figure,
he's not going to handle it.
I got to do this on my own.
And we go out,
and we spend 90 hours a week at the office
for the next couple weeks
to try and fix everything that's just gone wrong.
We don't trust that God's going to be good
and that God's going to care for us.
And we think,
I have to take everything into my own hands.
I have to fix it on my own.
And so we take it into our own hands,
and we don't turn to God to help us.
We act just like the disciples,
scrambling in fear and anxiety,
rather than like Jesus,
learning to rest in God's perfect care for us.
And so the disciples,
because they don't recognize Jesus cared for them,
come to him,
and they ask him the crucial question,
do you even care?
There's a problem with their question.
The problem with their question
is that they ignored the fact
that Jesus was on the boat with them.
Think about it.
Jesus is on the boat with them.
Which means even if we were in some hypothetical world
where he didn't care at all
about any of the other people on the boat,
he still cares about what happens to the boat
because whatever happens to the boat
is going to happen to him too.
By climbing onto the boat with the disciples,
Jesus has linked his fate to their fate
so that whatever happens to them
happens to him as well.
And he has to care about what happens to them
because he is on the boat with them.
The disciples question whether he cares for them
because they've forgotten the fact
that he is with them.
They lose sight of the fact that he cares about them
because they've lost sight of the fact
that he is with them.
You know, if he was standing on the shore
or if he was walking on the water
and this storm hit the boat,
maybe they'd have some grounds for asking if he cared.
But he's on the boat with them
when the storm hits.
His fate is tied to theirs.
He has to care about them
because he has become part of them
by stepping on the boat with them.
And so in response to the disciples' question,
do you even care?
Jesus gets up and he rebukes the wind and the waves.
He says, cut it out, and they do.
And it's not just that they slowly, gradually go away.
No, it stops.
The Bible says there was a great storm
and after Jesus says to calm down,
there is a great calm, a dead calm, a mega calm.
It's not just that the rain sort of stops.
But the rain stops, the wave stops,
the sea is as clear as glass.
You can look down and see your reflection perfectly
over the edge of the boat.
And then he turns around to the disciples.
He says, why are you afraid?
Have you still no faith?
Now put yourself in the disciples' shoes for a second.
They were just in a mega storm.
They were confident that they were going to die.
Fear is the logical response in that situation.
When you see waves bigger than your boat
crashing down on top of you,
fear is the natural response.
And yet the first thing Jesus says to his disciples
after they wake him up is,
why are you afraid?
I think underneath this is a bigger statement.
He's telling them, if you knew,
if you only knew that I was good,
and if you only knew that I cared for you,
then your response would not have been fear.
Your response would have been faith.
Rather than scrambling,
rather than trying and trying and trying desperately
and failing again and again and again
to save this boat,
you would have come to me
and I would have rescued you.
If you knew that I was good,
you would have turned to me
rather than turning to fear and anxiety.
You still haven't learned that.
Disciples,
when are you going to learn that I care desperately for you,
that I'm with you,
and I'm for you?
And I know this story happened 2,000 years ago
on a sea in a land that's thousands of miles away.
And that we here today could sit and listen to this story
and think, eh, what does that have to do with my life?
But the truth is that this story
has a deep continuing significance for our lives
because this story on a miniature level
is a picture of what Christ came to earth
to do.
Like I said,
the question the disciples asked
is one that basically all of us ask
at some point in our lives
in some way.
God,
do you actually care?
You care about me.
You care about the people I care about.
You care about the situations happening to us in life.
And maybe we don't ask the question in those words.
Maybe we don't actually ask or think the question out loud at all.
But we have actions
that reveal the fact
that we don't believe that God cares.
And so we do things like we calculate out
how much money do I need
to be financially secure for the rest of my life.
And then we add $2 million to that U.S.
and stick it in a bank account
just to be safe in case.
And we think,
okay,
now I'm safe
just in case.
When they announced that layoffs are coming up in our office,
in the weeks leading up to the layoff announcements,
we lose sleep
wondering what's going to happen
if my name is on the list
and I no longer have a job.
We lose sleep
because we don't believe
that God cares for us.
We don't believe
that he's good
and he's for us.
And what's true
of the disciples
and of Jesus on the boat
is true of us
in our world today as well.
Confident
trust
in God's goodness
and care for us
leads
to rest.
Confident
trust
in God's
goodness
and care for us
leads
to rest.
And failure
to trust
in God's
goodness
leads
to fear.
If you want
to know today
how you're doing
at learning to trust in God
or failing at that,
a simple question
you can ask yourself.
Is my life marked
more by fear
or by rest?
If you're a guy
and you don't like to admit
that you're ever afraid
of anything,
then you can substitute
out the word fear
for stress
and anxiety
and concern.
Is my life marked
more by stress,
anxiety,
and concern
or by rest?
Because stress,
anxiety,
fear,
concern
are all symptoms
of the fact
that we have hearts
that are failing
to trust
in God.
But there's a deeper
question here too.
And that question is,
can we know
that God cares for us?
Because it's useless
to know how to respond
when God cares for us
if we can't know
whether he cares for us.
And the thing
we need to remember
in response
to that question
is that what was true
of Jesus
and the disciples
on the boat
is also true
of us today.
That just as Jesus
was with the disciples
on the boat
and therefore
had to care about
what happened to them
because he was with them.
That Jesus
is with us
today.
Matthew chapter 1
in talking about
the Christmas story
says that his name
will be called
Emmanuel,
which means
God with us.
In John chapter 1
it talks about
the word
and it says
the word was God,
the word was with God,
the word was in the beginning
with God,
the word made everything
and then it says
the word became flesh
and dwelt among us
and we have beheld
his glory,
glory as of the only begotten
of the Father,
full of grace and truth.
The word,
Jesus Christ,
came and took on flesh
as a human being,
as one of us
and he lived among us
as one of us.
On the boat
he had to care about
what happened to the disciples
because he was with them,
because he had linked
his fate to theirs
so whatever happened
to them
was going to happen
to him too.
And in the Bible
it tells us
that we as humanity
were created
by God
for a relationship
with him
and that each
and every one of us
rebelled against God
and said,
I want no part in this.
But each and every one of us
said,
God,
I'm wiser than you,
I'm smarter than you,
I know more than you,
I've got this,
leave me alone.
And that each and every one
of us
deserved
a punishment.
We deserved
a great storm
of God's wrath
against us
for our rebellion.
And in coming to earth,
Jesus
perfectly followed
and obeyed God.
As one of us,
he came
and the Bible
tells us
that on the cross
he bore
the great storm
of God's wrath
for us.
The greatest storm
that any of us
could ever have to face.
And it wasn't just
whatever happens
to you
happens to me also,
like on the boat.
But it was one step
further than that.
It was,
I am going
to bear this
so that
you don't have to.
His response
to us
when we ask
do you care
is even greater
than his response
to the disciples
on the boat.
How
could I not
care?
I'm with you.
I'm one of you.
I faced
the greatest
storm
for
you.
Because I love you.
Because
I care.
because I want you
to know
my great love
for you.
So what does this
look like
in our lives
on a practical level?
For one thing,
we're going to face
storms.
If you look
at this story,
Jesus actually
tells the disciples
to go out
onto the water.
He says,
let's get in the boat,
let's go.
He knew
there would be
a storm
that night.
I don't think
they did.
And yet
he leads them
into the storm.
Not because
he's evil,
not because
he's apathetic
about what
happens to them,
but because
there's some part
of his character
that he wants
them to see
that they will
never see
unless they go
through the storm
with him.
And so even
if we're
with Jesus
and even though
he cares for us,
we'll still
face storms,
but as we
face storms
in life,
he's with us
and he cares.
And so we can
have confident
rest through
the storms
knowing
that the greatest
storm of all
has been faced
by Jesus
for us.
And that in
these other
storms,
that he's with us.
That he's protecting
us.
that we can
turn to him
rather than
desperately trying
to fix it
all on our
own.
So we can
have rest.
It's interesting
in this story
that the ability
to rest,
like Tobin
said,
we always assume
that it's based
on our circumstances.
But you notice
Jesus and the
disciples were in
the exact same
circumstances.
Both of them
were on the
same boat.
Both of them
were being tossed
by the same
storm.
And yet Jesus
had rest
and the
disciples didn't.
Because Jesus
knew that God
was with him.
And the
disciples forgot.
And if you
had asked any
of the disciples
at that moment,
why are you
so afraid?
They would have
said,
duh,
look around you.
How could you
not be afraid?
We're afraid
because of this
storm.
But that was
a lie.
How do you
know that?
Look at the
last verse
of this passage.
It says,
after Jesus
has calmed
the storm,
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?
When the
storm hits,
they're sure
that they are
going to die
and they are
scared.
When the
storm stops,
they know
that they are
safe and
they are
more scared
than they
were during
the storm.
The storm
was not
what caused
their fear.
If the storm
caused their
fear,
then number
one,
Jesus would
have been
afraid with
them,
and number
two,
their fear
would have
stopped as
soon as
the storm
stopped.
But there
was something
deeper going
on in
their hearts.
There was a
fundamental
lack of
faith in
Jesus'
care for
them,
an ability
to provide
for them,
and that
led to
fear.
great
fear,
even after
the storm
was gone.
And so
our ability
to face
the storms
in life
isn't based
on our
circumstances,
but rather
on whether
we know
that Jesus
is in
the boat
with us
through
every storm.
And I
know that
that's a
really abstract
concept,
so I want
to give a
couple more
concrete pictures
as we close
up,
of what
this could
look like
functionally
in our
lives on
a day-to-day
basis in
Hong Kong.
And the
first thing,
sleep.
I know it
sounds simple,
but I read
an article this
week published
in 2011.
They did a
scholarly study
of sleep
habits in
Hong Kong
and discovered
that almost
40% of
people in
Hong Kong
suffer from
insomnia.
That's 2.2
million people
in the city.
And they
found that
the leading
cause of
insomnia
among the
people surveyed
was perceived
stress in
their lives.
And a
really sad
stat about
this study is
they checked
some people's
religious beliefs
to see whether
being part of
a religion
increased or
decreased your
chances of
having insomnia.
And out of
the Christians
surveyed,
the people
surveyed who
identified
themselves as
Christians,
they were
actually more
likely than
the average
person in
Hong Kong
to suffer
from
insomnia.
Exactly.
Now those
stats would say
that in a
room this
size,
maybe about
80 people
suffer from
insomnia.
Most of
them because
of perceived
stress in
their lives.
things.
And I know
there are some
people who
have trouble
sleeping because
of physical
stuff.
Like I woke
up this
morning with
my nose all
congested and
my throat dry
and it was
before my
alarm went
off and it
was a pain.
I'm not
talking about
that.
But after I
woke up an
hour before my
alarm went
off and I
blew my nose
and I drank
some water,
I climbed back
in bed and I
lied down to
try and go back
to sleep for
that last hour.
And all of a
sudden, stuff for
the sermon today
started running
through my head.
and it took
me a while to
fall back asleep.
That's what I'm
talking about.
How many of
us lie in
bed at night
unable to
sleep because
we feel like
we have to
have control
of the world
in our
hands?
Because we
don't trust
that God is
good and that
God cares for
us.
In the middle
of the great
storm, Jesus
slept.
I think for
us, one of the
biggest signs that
we're starting to
understand this
concept of God
caring for us
will be sleeping
soundly through
the night.
The second
thing, rest.
I know this is
difficult in Hong
Kong.
We live in a
city where even
when you have a
day that you
don't have to go
into the office,
you're expected to
constantly be
available for
emails, to
constantly be on
call to come in
for emergency
situations.
And even if
your office
doesn't necessarily
say that they
expect it, a lot
of us just do
that anyways for
various reasons.
And even if you
don't do that, how
many of us on our
day off just have
our minds full of
things coming up in
the office in the
next week?
Of how we're going
to handle the
different tasks that
we have coming up?
We can't get it out
of our minds, our
work.
It consumes us.
We're with our
kids.
We're playing at the
playground, but we
have one hand pushing
the kid on the swing
and the other hand
checking email on the
phone to make sure
that we're not missing
out on anything from
the office.
We're with our
friends at the
coffee shop, but
instead of being able
to hang out, we're
just studying because
we have the exam coming
up so soon and we
need to be ready.
And what Jesus wants
us to learn in this
story is to rest, to
truly rest, not just
to step away but still
have our minds consumed
by everything going
on, everything stressing
us out in the world, but
to learn to let God
handle it.
You notice when the
disciples come to Jesus
on the boat, they say,
don't you care, we're
drowning.
He doesn't look at the
situation and say, oh,
good job, guys.
You kept us up for this
long, but don't worry, I
got it from here.
That's not his
response.
His response is, guys,
why?
Why did you try so hard
for so long rather than
coming to me in the
first place?
Why did you waste so
much energy on fear
rather than just come
to me?
I've been here the
entire time.
I've been waiting.
So I think us learning to
rest is a huge, huge
indicator that we're
starting to get this
concept.
And I know rest looks
different for different
people in different
phases of life.
Maybe if you have kids,
learning to rest means
putting away the cell
phone while you're
playing with them.
I know some people get
the shivers just thinking
about that idea.
But is God in charge?
Maybe for all of us,
that means putting away
electronics during our
time with God,
reading our Bibles.
Maybe if you're a student,
it means learning to
close the textbooks for a
couple hours and go do
something you enjoy with
your friends.
You know, I have a
friend who's doing a law
degree for fun.
And I know what you're
thinking.
Who does that?
That's my question too.
But I was teasing my
friend about doing this
law degree for fun because,
again, who does that?
And this friend told me
that they had actually
gotten a really,
really grade, like top
grade in their class on
one of their entire
classes.
And so I thought,
who does a law degree
for fun?
And out of those people,
who outperforms their
entire class of people
who want to be lawyers?
And I was giving my
friend a hard time,
understandably, for being
a bit of a nerd.
And my friend looked at
me and she said,
Eric, you don't
understand.
Everyone in that class
has incredible stress
because they want to be
lawyers and they feel
like the grade they get
in this class is going
to determine whether or
not they have a job in
the future.
And so every minute of
studying for them is an
intense pressure cooker
of trying to make sure
that they're secure for
the future.
They feel like their
entire future depends on
how they perform in this
exam.
For me, I'm just doing it
for fun.
So I don't care if I get a
good grade.
As long as I pass,
that's fine.
Which means that when I
study, I'm able to
actually enjoy it.
I'm able to have this
freedom and rest that no
one else can have.
And so when I take my
exam, I'm having fun.
I'm enjoying the material.
And they are so stressed
that they can't think
straight.
And so I'm able to get
better grades than all
of them.
And we laugh.
And then, you know what
we're going to do?
We're going to leave here
today and we're going to
go home and we're going
to stress about the
upcoming week.
But God is saying,
stop.
Stop stressing.
Stop worrying.
Learn to rest because I
care with you and I've
proven it by coming to be
with you.
That's what the story on
the boat is all about.
That Jesus has to care
because he's with the
disciples.
And that's what Christmas
is all about.
That God has to care
about us because he came
here to be one of us.
He came here to be with
us.
And so when we ask God,
where are you?
He says, I'm right there
with you.
And when we ask God, do
you care?
He says, of course I care.
How can I not?
I'm one of you.
If you have any doubts,
look to the manger.
Look to the cross.
Stop stressing.
Stop worrying.
Stop being afraid.
Learn to come to me.
Learn to sleep.
Learn to rest.
Let's pray.
Father, we thank you for
your great love for us.
We thank you for Jesus and
for the cross.
We thank you for the boat
and for the great
illustration of the fact
that you care for us.
Thank you for your power
to save.
Thank you for the fact that
you are with us through the
storms.
Even when we can't see you,
even when it feels like you're
apathetic, that you care
because you're with us.
God, I pray that each of us
this week would learn to trust
in your care for us.
that we would learn to see
that you're good,
that we would learn to sleep,
we would learn to rest,
that we would learn to stop
stressing, stop being anxious,
stop being afraid,
stop scrambling to try and
fix everything on our own.
Instead, learn to see
that you are a good God
and a good Father to us.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Amen.