Sleep

                                           SLEEP

    The twenties is a very difficult phase of one’s life. You get ushered into adulthood, forced to be more responsible, start to live on your own, get a job and start to fend for yourself. The reality of life starts to hit you, you get into the search for your purpose and areas of gifting, you start to think of a million ways to make money right now and jump straight to living out all your dreams, your friends change and you start to question a lot of things. The comfortable boat of life you once floated on begins to be hit by very hard waves of uncertainty, fear, and worries about the future, and at this point you get to discover that you had been on this boat all your life and had never mastered the art of paddling it yourself, neither did you ever learn to swim nor have a life vest on board if the need arose.

   I sat in my boat perplexed about my current situation, I was in my twenties and I had a pile of worries hitting against my boat. The storm was closing in on me, I struggled to find the strength to paddle this boat called life but I found none. With a loud cry, I called out “Lord, help me!” I got a question for a response “Do you trust me?” He asked. “yes! I do trust you” I shouted even louder, how could He be questioning my trust right now? He stepped into the boat and whispered “Sleep”. My mind went blank for a moment; how could He ask me to sleep right now? I was losing my life and me going to sleep was His way of helping out? I spoke out in confusion “sleep? How?” He held my hand and said, “let me teach you how.”

    Jesus got on a boat along with his disciples and they headed for Gergesenes. As they began to sail, the clouds gathered as though it suddenly became night, the darkness swallowed up and consumed the day until all that was left was complete darkness. Flashes of light crossed the sky after which a crashing sound of thunder came angrily rumbling like cymbals hitting against each other, the sea arose with waves crashing the shores and heavily hitting the walls of the boat. With at least four skilled fishermen on board, one will think whatever storm arose they should be able to sail that boat to the other side, this storm was greater than they could handle, they quickly ran to Jesus for help and found him sleeping soundly. In Utmost shock they cried out “Lord Save us, we perish”. He turned over from his sleep and replied “why are you afraid? O ye men of little faith” then he arose and spoke to winds and the sea “Be still” and at once there was perfect peace.

   Today’s message is simple yet not so easy to take in, God wants you to rest and be at peace amidst troubles. He needs you to drop all your worries with him and go to sleep. God doesn’t think the way we humans think neither does he work the way we work. Ordinarily, when faced with a storm, the human way out will be to strap yourself with a life vest and paddle with all your strength like your life depends on it; because it actually does depend on it, but to be asked to do nothing but sleep! That is completely absurd. As fierce as the storms of life rages, Gods love for us rages even more fiercely and His love for us is our anchor. So no matter what storms or troubled waters we sail through, our lives remain unmoved because we are anchored to an immutable God, with this confidence we can sleep through any storm knowing that we will not be shaken.

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah…
…Be still, and know that I am God” -Psalm 46:1-3, 10a