Sunday Devotional: Whom even wind and sea obey

Job 38: 1, 8-11

The Lord addressed Job out of the storm and said:
Who shut within doors the sea,
when it burst forth from the womb;
when I made the clouds its garment
and thick darkness its swaddling bands?
When I set limits for it
and fastened the bar of its door,
and said: Thus far shall you come but no farther,
and here shall your proud waves be stilled!

Mark 4:35-41

On that day, as evening drew on, Jesus said to his disciples:
“Let us cross to the other side.”
Leaving the crowd, they took Jesus with them in the boat just as he was.
And other boats were with him.
A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat,
so that it was already filling up.
Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion.
They woke him and said to him,
“Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”
He woke up,
rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still!”
The wind ceased and there was great calm.
Then he asked them, “Why are you terrified?
Do you not yet have faith?”
They were filled with great awe and said to one another,
“Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?”

The above passages from Job 38 and Mark 4 show a concordance between the Old Testament and the New Testament, wherein Job 38 foretold the account in Mark 4 of the Second Person of the Triune Godhead having the power to calm the wind and the sea.

There are other places in the Old Testament where the coming of the Second Person was foretold:

Isaiah 7:14

Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Numbers 24:17

there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth.

Micah 5:2

But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

Jeremiah 23:5

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.

Zechariah 9:9

behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.

Zechariah 11:12

So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.

Psalm 22:1, 16, 18

My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?

they pierced my hands and my feet.

They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.

Those passages in the Old Testament all pointed to Jesus of Nazareth as being the promised Messiah (Savior).

And yet, the Jewish elites of the day — the Pharisees and the Sanhedrins, the elite of elites — persisted not only in doubting Jesus, but publicly challenged, excoriated and persecuted the Son of God to the point of death. But we, the little people who are His followers, moan and groan whenever our enemies give us a hard time!

So the next time someone betrays, mistreats or abuses us, just remember that God Himself had endured far, far worse.

Luke 9:23

Then he said to them all:
“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves
and take up their cross daily and follow me.”

And may the peace and love of Jesus Christ our Lord be with you,

~E

Please follow and like us: