Keep Calm and Let God Handle It

Text: Mark 4:35-41

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

          Our hymnal provides an entire section of hymns under the category of hope and comfort. Hymns 743-765 include some of the most well-known and beloved songs that our church sings. Jesus, Priceless Treasure, Amazing Grace, I’m But a Stranger Here, Rock of Ages, and When Peace, Like a River are all included in this section. But today’s Gospel reading got me thinking about one particular hymn that’s included in this part of the hymnal. Be Still, My Soul. Whenever we sing that hymn, we sing it like we believe the words.

Be still my soul; the Lord is on your side;

Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;

Leave to your God to order and provide;

In every change He faithful will remain.

Be still, my soul; your best, your heavenly Friend

Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

          But do we really believe it? Be Still, My Soul. Really? Deep down what you really might be thinking is “You don’t actually know what I’m going through. My life is a wreck. My finances are crumbling. My health is failing. Relationships are frayed. It seems like when I get one thing fixed, something else goes wrong.” And that’s just the stuff going on within your four walls. You look outside at the world around you and Be Still, My Soul might be the furthest thing from what you’re actually thinking. You might be more likely to ask “Where’s God in all of this? Is He actually watching over me? Does He really care?” The sure and certain answer to that question is that, yes

EVEN IN THE STORMS OF YOUR LIFE, GOD DOES CARE.

AND HE SAYS TO THOSE STORMS “PEACE! BE STILL!”

          In preparation for World War II, the government of the United Kingdom produced a motivational poster intended to raise the morale of the British public as they braced for the widely anticipated air attacks on major cities. White words on a red background urged citizens to Keep Calm and Carry On. Of course, those attacks did happen and even though there were 2½ million of those posters produced, they were rarely displayed and almost all but forgotten until the year 2000. It was then that the owner of a bookshop in England found a copy and displayed it to a great deal of renewed interest. It’s likely you’ve seen the poster with its crown at the top and all the variations that have been produced in the last two decades. The sentiment of Keep Calm and Carry On was created for a people ready to weather a great storm and perhaps is comforting to people today weathering their own storms, but it could also be the distilled version of what Jesus is saying to His disciples who were weathering that storm on the Sea of Galilee.

Our Gospel reading from Mark begins as Jesus finishes a day of teaching and says to His disciples, “Let us get across to the other side.” Jesus is on a mission, and although they’ve had a great day of gathering followers, healing people, and teaching, there’s going to be more work to do tomorrow. He’s telling His disciples in the midst of all this activity to Be Calm and Carry On with the mission He has them on. It’s the same with you. You’ll have productive days of doing the Lord’s work where you’ll feel fulfilled and satisfied by what God is doing through you. But then there will be days when you wonder if you’ve actually even gotten a single thing accomplished for the Lord. Whichever it might be, Jesus says to you Keep Calm and Carry On. And the great thing about that is that when we realize that it’s His work that’s being done, we’re not responsible for the result. As long as we faithfully and diligently do the work He sets before us, He can then be concerned about the harvest, to use a metaphor from the parable we heard last week. So, like those disciples, get in the boat and head for the other side, or whatever else it is that he’s calling you to do. He’ll direct the outcome.

As those disciples are out there on the sea, attempting to get to the other side, “A great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling.” We’ve certainly seen some storms lately, but maybe not quite like this one. And it’s a whole lot different when the storm comes while you’re on the sea. On land you can likely find shelter somewhere, but on the sea there’s nowhere to go. When your storms arise, and it seems like there’s nowhere to go for shelter, and your boat is filling more quickly than you can bail it out, what sort of reaction do you have? Is it one of panic and distress? When there’s still month left at the end of the money, does it cause great despair? When that unexpected hospital visit throws your world into turmoil, does it seem like there’s no hope? When the baby is screaming in the middle of the night for the 10^th day in a row, are you ready to jump overboard?

How you respond to the storms of this fallen world says a lot about where you put your trust. The disciples in this account were not a great example at first of putting their trust in the One who could save them from this terrible storm. They allowed their fear to dictate their response. Even accusing the Lord of not caring about them. “[Jesus] was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke Him and said to Him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing.’” Imagine having the calm of the One who knows the outcome. Who knows that everything’s going to be okay. The One who knows that at the sound of His voice the wind and the waves will obey. That’s the kind of calm that can allow someone to sleep through the storm. We endure a lot of sleepless nights worrying about how we’re going to solve all our problems instead of handing them over to the One who can make them go away in an instant.

Which is exactly what Jesus does. “He awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be Still! And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.” One of the variations on that Keep Calm and Carry On poster is Keep Calm and Fear Not. We fear because we don’t fully trust that the Lord is in control. Which is what Jesus is saying in His response to the disciples. “He said to them, ‘Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?’” He might not calm the storm immediately, but it’s certainly not because He doesn’t care. And how will we know what our God is willing to do for us if we don’t ask?

One of the hallmarks of faith is the assurance that whatever the outcome we know that God is on our side. God, who controls the wind and the waves. God, who has the ability to calm all our fears. God, who steps into our boat in the midst of the storm and offers the peace and stillness that we long for. This is the God of all creation who commands that His creation obey Him. This is the God who through the power of baptismal waters and His Word welcomed Erwin into His very own family this morning. This is the God who gave His very body and blood to still the storm of sin and death and now offers it to us for our forgiveness. Have faith in Him and all that He has done.

Some might think that the end of this account is proof that the disciples still didn’t know who Jesus was because it tells us that, “they were filled with great fear and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey Him?” I don’t think doubting the disciples’ faith is the proper way to hear that verse. It’s like Luther says, “We should fear, love and trust in God…” Proper fear is a recognition of who God is, what He has done, and what He will continue to do for His people. The disciples had this proper fear of the One who caused the wind and the sea to obey Him. The One who at the sound of His voice handles all their problems. He is there for you too. There might be times when you feel like He’s asleep in your boat. Times when you’d like to say, “Lord, don’t you care that we’re perishing?” At all times, even those, He’s ready to speak to your storms. To calm your raging seas. To say, “Peace! Be still!”

I think my favorite variation on the Keep Calm and Carry On phrase is the one that says Keep Calm and Let God Handle It. It’s not always easy for us to pass that task on to Him, but He’s ready to take it on. And He’s far more capable than we are to handle anything that might come our way. So, Keep Calm and Let God Handle It. And when He does, you’ll be able to sing out, without reservation, Be Still, My Soul, knowing that the Lord truly is on your side. Amen.

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.