I’m still a couple of chapters away from reading the verse as part of my reading plan, but I’m reminded of the verse as I hover what I have read this morning.

But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things.”

(Luke 10:41 ESV)

That’s the verse that I’ll get to in a couple of weeks. But it’s the reality of what’s gripping me now. Anxious and troubled about many things. Partly because of how I’m wired. But also, partly because of what’s on my plate. Don’t think I’m anxious and troubled about trivial matters or inconsequential things. The stuff which, as they say, keeps me up at night is stuff worth paying attention to. Important stuff.

Yet, something I read this morning puts all that stuff into perspective.

As I read in Luke this morning, while I might have stuff that keeps me up at night, Jesus was sleeping. After a long day of preaching and teaching, He gets in a boat with His disciples, and they head for “the other side of the lake.” They all set out, but He falls asleep. And then a windstorm kicks up and the boat starts to fill up and they were, legitimately and actually, “in danger.” We’ll let Luke finish the story.

And they went and woke Him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And He awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm. He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that He commands even winds and water, and they obey Him?”

(Luke 8:24-25 ESV)

He commands even winds and water, and they obey Him. That’s what I needed to hear this morning. That’s what I needed to chew on. That’s what I need to believe. “I believe; help my unbelief” (Mk. 9:24).

He commands even winds and water. He commands all things. He is the Sovereign. He is the Sustainer. If we are in the boat going across the lake because He has told us to get in the boat, then despite winds and waves, we’re right where we should be. Right where we ought to want to be.

We’re right next to the One who commands all things. Trusting that what Jesus begins He completes. That we’ll get to where He says we should go. Despite the choppy seas, the dark clouds, and the howling wind, we are in the center of His divine will. And the One who commands even winds and waters is with us.

He commands all things. And they obey Him.

We can take that to the bank (or at least to the other shore).

By His grace. For His glory.