Day 2: God Incomprehensible

“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?’” – Mark 4:41

“Left to ourselves we tend immediately to reduce God to manageable terms. We want to get Him where we can use Him, or at least know where He is when we need Him. We want a God we can in some measure control.” – A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy

At the end of Mark 4, we are confronted with one of the most radical demonstrations of divine power and authority that we find in all of Scripture. As Jesus and His disciples made their way across the Sea of Galilee to the country of the Gerasenes, they suddenly found themselves trapped in a life-threatening storm. Though many of the disciples were experienced fishermen, they quickly began to panic in fear for their lives as torrential waves began to fill the boat. 

But as the disciples were coming completely unglued in the face of their terrifying circumstances, we find Jesus completely unfazed by what is happening as He laid fast asleep in the stern of the ship. The disciples, firmly convinced that they were facing certain death, urgently wake Jesus from His nap with a desperate cry of concern: “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” But at the simple command of Jesus — which was similar to the kind of annoyed “hush” you might speak to a loudly barking dog — the hurricane-like sea became as calm as an undisturbed glass of water. Jesus commanded the storm, “Peace, be still,” and in a supernatural instant, the storm was gone.

At this point in time, you might expect the disciples to express relief and gratitude for what Jesus had done, but instead we are told they were filled with great fear. Why? The answer is simple: The moment Jesus rebuked the wind and the waves by the power of His word, He became more unmanageable than the storm that almost killed them. They were confronted with the glory of the incomprehensible God, so all they could do is contemplate the question: “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?” Indeed, “it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31). But when, like the disciples, we learn to stand in fearful reverence of Him, we will learn to stand fearlessly in the face of all our greatest fears, and we will see them as nothing more than the conquered enemies of Christ. 

Prayer:

Lord, how great is our dilemma! In Thy Presence silence best becomes us, but love inflames our hearts and constrains us to speak. Were we to hold our peace, the stones would cry out; yet if we speak, what shall we say? Teach us to know that we cannot know, for the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Let faith support us where reason fails, and we shall think because we believe, not in order that we may believe. In Jesus’ name. Amen.    – A.W. Tozer

Response:

Proverbs 1:7 says that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.” What does it mean to walk and live in the fear of the Lord? How does living in the fear of the Lord bring us comfort in the face of our greatest fears?

Where have you attempted to reduce God to manageable, comprehensible terms? Ask Him to captivate your heart with awestruck wonder for His glory today.