READING: Matthew 8:14-34, Mark 4-5
TEXTS AND APPLICATION: Is your life chaotic today? Chapters 4 and 5 of Mark portray Jesus as the master over nature (a calmed sea), demons (a freed demoniac), sickness (a healed woman), and death (a resurrected daughter). Within those stories, though, is a picture of Jesus as the master over chaos. When Mark could have easily said that “the sea was raging,” “the man had a lot of demons,” “a woman was sick,” and “the daughter was dead,” he instead piled us phrases to help us see (and perhaps even feel) the chaos. Read these dramatic descriptions, and enter the stories:
Mark 4:37 A fierce windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking over the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped.
Mark 5:3-5 He [a demoniac] lived in the tombs. No one was able to restrain him anymore—even with chains—because he often had been bound with shackles and chains, but had snapped off the chains and smashed the shackles. No one was strong enough to subdue him. And always, night and day, he was crying out among the tombs and in the mountains and cutting himself with stones.
Mark 5:25-26 A woman suffering from bleeding for 12 years had endured much under many doctors. She had spent everything she had and was not helped at all. On the contrary, she became worse.
Mark 5:35, 38 While He was still speaking, people came from the synagogue leader’s house and said, “Your daughter is dead. Why bother the Teacher anymore?” . . . They came to the leader’s house, and He saw a commotion—people weeping and wailing loudly.
Fear. Out of control waves.
Possession. An out of control heart.
Disease. A patient with no control.
Death. Grief. Again, no control.
But, into the chaos steps Jesus, the Master over all. He who calms the waves also exorcises demons, heals sicknesses, and raises the dead. Chaos meets its match in the One who is in control.
Maybe your life is, in fact, chaotic today. You’d love to see change, but you’re not in control. That’s okay, though — Jesus is.
ACTION STEPS: Study these passages again to see Jesus in control. As you read, pray for God to help you trust Him in the chaos.
PRAYER: “God, give me faith today to see You as Lord over anything and everything I face.”
TOMORROW’S READING: Matthew 9-10
