Why do you despair?

Let's go to the Word of the Lord in Mark 4:35 to 41. The Lord's question to us many times is: "Why are you afraid?" Why do you panic, why do you fear, why do you distrust, why do you despair?

I was thinking this week about all these events that we have experienced in recent days and that Friday full of anxiety that took place in this city when I was being this last terrorist, I was being persecuted and it was not known what was going to happen; if he had any more bombs, if he was going to go somewhere and blow himself up like a suicide bomber with whatever other bombs he had or where in the city he was. And the city of Boston was filled with fear and panic and anxiety.

And an entire city, one of the most important cities in the world such as Boston and hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people in a city with enviable technology and global importance and how a single individual paralyzed that city for almost a whole day and people did not dare to go out, there was fear everywhere, everyone was frozen watching the television and the newscasts celebrate when there are these things because they are always looking for news.

Do you know how many television channels there are, how many news services and they need to always be producing material to justify themselves and to be able to maintain their ratings, competition with each other. That is to say that when these things happen one has the dubious privilege of living every second and every little detail, these people dig up anything even the color of the socks these terrorists were wearing who blew up the bombs, that is a news item. And how people are filled with panic and fear.

I don't know exactly what I mean by that, but my wife and I had to go to a meeting in North Boston, I am on the board of directors of Golden College and it was a two day meeting. and that was the second day; I had to be there for a reason that I was going to participate in a very specific form of the meeting right in the morning at the beginning of the day. And the thing was that you couldn't get out, that everything was frozen and that people stayed at home.

And I had to decide: what do I stay? well, this terrorist is surely going in the other direction and I'm going north so, Meche, I told him: let's go once we get on the highway they can't catch us anymore (laughs). The case, I was scared but I have never been able to fill myself with anxiety and fear not because I am so courageous but simply because in my spirit there is a consuming sense of the Presence of God, that God is in control, that it is what that God is, He is sovereign, He is King of kings and we cannot give him so much importance even though he is important, do not get me wrong.

I believe that the authorities are doing well in certain things, but imagine if we say in Jerusalem, Israel, where there are so many terrorist acts continuously and there are terrorists walking the streets continuously, if those Israelis were to take all the threats that exist every day, it would not be done. nothing. We also have to know.

I imagine that what I want to say about that experience is that, right? that we cannot live hostage to the evil that exists in this world, because we live in a world like never before, full of evil, full of terrorist spirits that are always trying to do harm every time we leave our house on the street. And we also have to ask the Lord to instill in us a sense of His Peace, of His government over history, over the world and not allow ourselves to be terrorized because what terrorism wants is precisely that; What terrorism has pursued since this terrorist process began two centuries or a century and a half ago, there has always been a type of terrorism, but above all, as such a political process, it is taking away peace from communities, societies, filling us with fear , fill us with uncertainty, destabilize processes, cause great cost to society like this, which has cost hundreds of millions of dollars to deal with all this.

And give those acts so that our attention is focused on them and this same act of extreme revenge on the part of those terrorists and it is the work of evil, the demonic work wanting to blind lives. And we cannot allow them to dictate the agenda; We have our agenda, it is the agenda of good, it is the agenda of love, work, fidelity to duty and we cannot let these people get away with it by taking control of our societies and our cultures, no we can do that.

And I believe that one of the things that helps us when those moments of great trial come into our lives is to go to the Word of the Lord, which has so much teaching for us. One of the passages that the Lord reminded me of this morning is found in Mark chapter 4 verses 35 to 41 and I am going to read it. It says here: "That day, when night came, Jesus said to them: Let us cross over to the other side."

"But a great windstorm arose and the waves threw the boat in such a way that it was already drowning" that is, it sank, it was overwhelmed with water; the water was entering the boat itself and was threatening to sink it. "And He" Jesus "was in the stern" that is to say in the front part of the boat "sleeping on a headrest" a kind of improvised pillow from the same ship "and they woke him up and said to him: Master, are you not careful? that we perish? And getting up, he rebuked the wind and said to the sea: Be quiet, be still."

"The wind ceased and there was a great calm. And he said to them: Why are you so terrified, how do you not have faith? Then they feared with great fear and said to each other: Who is this that even the wind and the sea do they obey him?" What a beautiful image, what a beautiful story, and there is something we can learn from that.

I believe that this story is recorded in the Gospels for a purpose; It wasn't put there simply because ok, this happened in the lives of the disciples and we're going to write it there for people to read in the future, no. They want to teach us something about the person of Jesus, they want to tell us something about similar situations that these disciples faced at that time; They want to encourage us to have a type of posture and attitude when storms come into our lives, when the sea threatens to enter our house, our marriage, our children, our ministry, our life and it seems like adversity is going to win the battle and we will be destroyed.

When all seems lost, the Bible wants to tell us: don't give up yet, don't declare defeat; don't lose your head because there is always hope. My motto in life is that: there is always a solution, there is always a way out, the Lord is always going to pull the rabbit out of the hat somehow because it is so; God is a God of solutions.

So let's analyze this passage. The disciples are in the midst of daily living and the normal tasks of life, they are serving the people, they are preaching the Word, they are doing the work of the Lord and the Lord has just instructed the crowd with different parables, different teachings, different instructional sermons and he has spent the whole day teaching the people and night comes, the day ends and the Lord says: now let's go and go to the other side, they are remember there is a very large lake there in that area from where the The Lord moved, Palestine, the lake of Gennesaret and the Lord says: let's go to the other shore, let's go. I have been there in that place, it is a huge lake and there are villages located in different parts of the shore of that lake.

And the Lord says: ok we are going to another place, we are going to continue preaching the Word, we are going to continue doing the work of the Father. And he tells them: let's go to the other side, in that word of the Lord there is a commandment, there is an instruction but if you look closely there is also a guarantee of security, there is an implicit promise in that let's go to the other side because the Lord is telling them: My purpose is that we go to the other side and the Lord is not wrong; If the Lord tells them: let's go to the other side, they would arrive, they would not sink into the sea, that is the thing.

The Lord has a purpose and that purpose is to be fulfilled no matter what may come between going over to the other side and getting to the other side. Just as God has entrusted us with certain things in this life, we have a life to fulfill, you have things that God wants you to do in this life; there are purposes that God wants you to fulfill, there are events that have to happen in your life. God has given you children, he has given you a job, he has given you a profession. Your life has things that have to happen before the end of your life arrives and the Lord knows exactly when that moment will arrive and the Lord is not going to allow anything He has planned for your life to be taken away from you if you are with him and you are in him.

So think about that "let's go to the other side" every time the Lord says go to the other side, go to the other place, you know that along with the instruction comes the provision. When the Lord told the disciples: "Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations" He was not only giving them a commandment, but before that He was saying: "All power is given to me on earth and in the heaven. Go into all the world." He was telling them: Do not worry, I am giving you a very big order but My provision will go with you too, My Power will go with you and look here at the Church of Jesus Christ two thousand years later still prevailing and maintaining itself on Earth because the Lord also said: the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

And the Word is full of promises for you and me brother or sister. The Lord tells you: what I have entrusted you to do in life, mother: God has given you children. Father: God has given you a family to take care of. Young God has given you dreams and purposes. The Lord promises to travel with you that process, that stretch until you reach the shore, you have to trust in the Lord.

Then he says: "Let's go to the other side" He dismisses the crowd but what happens? when they get on the boat a great storm arises. How interesting that despite the fact that the Lord was with them, despite the fact that the Lord had said: go to the other shore, despite the fact that the very Presence of Almighty God is with them, a storm arises. And sometimes I ask myself like this in life: Lord, why aren't you more economical? Why not stop the tests from coming? Why do I have to be asking you to take me out of the tests and trusting that I'm going to get out of the tests, why don't you solve my problem simply that I don't go through the test? simple.

No? why does God allow situations to come to life instead of simply making things easier and preventing us from falling into those processes; it is because He has a plan, a purpose always. There is benefit that the test has and there are things that we can learn that teach us many things about God and then we are a blessing to others. And the Lord just wanted to take a picture for the centuries to come so that many believers through the centuries could know who He is, what He is like, how to conduct themselves in the midst of tribulation and trials.

And I believe that they were used so that the Lord could teach all humanity and all His Church that would come through the centuries a lesson on how things work when He is present. And look how much benefit humanity has gotten from this event. It cost the disciples a very big scare but how much blessing has it been? Today there are works of art in the great museums of the world that reflect this scene and have inspired multitudes, dramas have been written, poems have been declared, hymns have been sung and composed around this event, the Lord has got a lot out of it but someone had to be a guinea pig.

Someone had to go through that test so that the Lord would have that lesson that He is the sovereign over life's problems, He is King, He rules over the storm, over life's problems and difficulties and all those things. we get from that passage. So, yes, the Lord was with them, yes, the Lord guaranteed their arrival, but there were other things that they had to reach and learn, and that is why the Lord allowed the test to come into their lives.

Notice another thing that they are in the middle of the service, they are serving the Lord. They are not sinning, they are not disobeying, they are not doing bad things; they are noble people who have given their lives to serve the Lord and yet they still have to go through this difficulty. And many times when we go through tribulations in life and problems we say: But Lord, if I am serving you? I have looked everywhere and I can't find what could be the reason for what is happening. I love You, I serve, I tithe, I give of my time to You, I behave well, I seek holiness, I pray, I fast, I have given my gifts to You, why do I have to go through this test? I think I have faith in You, I am praying and presenting my need to You; I'm doing everything the manual says and I'm still on the test.

It is a legitimate and valid question, perhaps these men asked themselves that same question: why if we are serving the Lord, why if we go to another place now to continue preaching the Gospel, why if we come from spending a whole day instructing people in the knowledge of God why do we have to go through this test?. There are many different reasons. The important thing is that the Bible tells us not to be surprised and shocked when we go through tribulations because all of us are going to go through different difficulties and different anxieties in life at some point.

That is why the Bible says that in the world we will find sorrow. The world is inherently warped and there are difficulties, problems will come, diseases will come into life and the question is going to be: how are we going to navigate them and what are we going to get out of them and how are we going to work in the midst of tribulation and trial? ?. But even though you are serving the Lord, recognize that times of sorrow and loss may come, but what you need to do is not let the trial get away with it.

You cannot send yourself to flee, you cannot turn your back on the devil and fight on the ground until you see the salvation of the Lord; that makes the test turn instead of something terrible and destructive into something redeeming and strengthening, and perfecting for the Son of God. The Bible says that: "Many are the tribulations of the just." We often go through difficulties in life but we are going to see that the important thing is going to be how we are going to navigate those waters. Think about it.

The Psalmist says: "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death." Not if I go just in case, no. Although I walk Sometimes we will go through the valley of the shadow of death, we will go through the valley. That valley of shadow is there in life and sometimes we have to go through it, right? So it is important that we know that this is part of life. In the world you will find sorrow.

Then it says that: "A great windstorm arose and the waves threw into the boat in such a way that it was already drowning." Listen to me, the minutes go by, many minutes go by, the water starts getting stronger and goes on and on and on and begins to get into the boat, the disciples are doing everything they can to keep the boat stable but there comes a time when they no longer they can more. Many times God will allow the test to continue for a long time. We are going to do everything we know how to do and we are still not going to come out of the test like these men; The waves keep coming, the wind keeps coming and sometimes God intervenes at the last moment to help us when the water is already reaching our necks, that's where the Lord comes to help us.

We have to stand firm while the trial lasts; we can't let our spirits drop. I always cling to that Word that says First Corinthians chapter 10 verse 13, it says: "No temptation has come upon you that is not human but faithful is God who will not let you be tempted more than you can resist but will give along with temptation the way out so that you can endure." Brother memorize that verse or else at least put it inside your being even if you can't say all the words of that verse you can say the content.

Here he tells me first that no temptation that is not human is going to come into my life, that means that it is beyond what I can process as a human being, that it is beyond what no human being has experienced ; the trials that come into my life have been experienced by others and the scale of the trials that come into my life are common to the human condition. God does not allow something to come into your life that is beyond your human framework, that is the first thing.

But it also says that: "God is faithful." We have to hold on to God's character, He is faithful. He does not forget, He does not get tired of loving us, He does not change his mind, He does not neglect himself; He is faithful. And then it says that He will not let us be tempted beyond what we can bear, is the heart of that verse. God will never allow a trial to come that is greater than what you are capable of bearing. You have to tell yourself that; even if it seems quite the opposite, even if it seems that you no longer have strength, you have to know that there is still enough strength in you to go forward and ask the Lord to make you aware of that strength, to put you in contact with that reserve of energy that is in your life, that there is more that you can use to reach victory.

And it says that: "God will give the way out together with the temptation." Whenever a situation comes into your life, say: where is the exit? Give me understanding Lord. The way out may come through a supernatural miracle or it may come through a doctor who solves your problem. It may be someone's advice, anything but the way out will come, the solution will come; God is going to bring it and you have to wait, trust. Say: Lord, where is the exit to this test? where is the solution? I believe that there is and I will continue crying out to You, I will continue doing my part so that either You give it to me or that it comes to me or that someone tells me where it is but I am going to find the way out, the way out will to come.

And when you are filled with that faith, that certainty that there is a solution to your need, God will then use your faith to bring that way out, that solution to your need. But many times what happens is that when trials come we are filled with so much fear that we stop praying, we stop trusting, our mind wanders wherever it wants; what we do is simply express our anxiety but we do not do it in an orderly way to present our needs to the Lord, cry out to Him for definition, clearly and we lose an opportunity for our faith to become a projectile that we direct against the test and we make it explode in our life.

So even though the boat was already drowning, there was a solution: the boat was not going to sink because the Lord was there, that is important for us to understand. Something struck me quite a bit. Once again, sometimes you kind of notice details that you hadn't seen before. This morning as I was studying this passage in verse 36 it says that, "Dismissing the crowd, they took him as he was." I said: wow I had never seen that, they took him as he was. I am not very sure but I think there is a lesson there; they took, that is, when they left, they took the Lord just as He was and they put him in the boat and took him away.

That means perhaps that He did not have the opportunity to go home and change his clothes, and take a bath and put on some perfume; no, He just rode in sweaty as he was, his clothes stinking because the Lord was human. How many know that the Lord sweated? he was human. And they didn't have a chance to change his clothes or anything and they uploaded him as he was and I said wow that little detail is so cute. And I thought: well wow, there's something.

I began to think that many times in life we are so exhausted and we are so busy and we have so many things to do that sometimes the only thing left for us is to look, entrust ourselves to the Lord and take Him as He is and on the way continue processing the prayer, faith whatever. What I want to tell you is that you often don't have to say big prayers and sometimes in life you won't be able to dedicate an hour or two to meditation and your devotional time, although we should definitely take time, but the important thing is that let's make sure that wherever we go we take the Lord and bring him with us, take him with us.

May the Lord always be with us daily. May the Lord always be inside our boat wherever we go. When we leave the house, take the Lord as He is, invite him to your boat, invite him to be with your family and with your children; while you are on the bus meditate on a verse, may there be a hymn always in your mouth. That is why it is so important to memorize Scripture, to memorize choruses, to always be there, that the Word of the Lord is always being bought and processed to be prepared at any time.

Sometimes we feel like we have to fast for ten hours and do this. Yes, amen, it's good, but also in life we have to have the Lord in everyday life because one doesn't know when the test is going to come and when the tribulation is going to come and when the need to testify to someone is going to come. We have to have the Lord as He is in us always in a daily way, always be full.

I think that's what he's telling me there. Why is that important? because many times when a bomb goes off in Boylston Street and you are near there you better know that your Redeemer lives; it will be better if you can say: "I will lift my eyes to the mountains, where will my help come from? it comes from the Lord" and you can immediately, a prayer, a cry, a supernatural strength springs from you and you can instead of sending yourself to run away, run to someone who is hurt and help you and strengthen you instead of you also panic and run.

You have to have the Lord with you every day continuously. Not necessarily the Lord with His glorious and obvious skirt, but the everyday Lord every day, having Him inside you and that was the solution to the problem, taking the Lord just as He was. What would have happened if they had said: Lord, go home and bathe, we will come tomorrow to look for you; they did not take him just as he was and glory to God that he was inside the boat when the moment of need and pressure came.

We have to be continually filling ourselves with the Word of the Lord and the Presence of the Lord. We have to cultivate that awareness of the Presence of God in our lives that will give us strength and encourage us in times of trial. That was the difference between the disciples and the Lord. They were not prepared for the test; they were men of the moment, of circumstance. They saw things but the Lord had not entered them yet while Jesus lived in continuous intimacy with the Father. He was always cultivating that sense of the Presence of the Father and that is why when He sees all that storm and everything that is happening around Him He is sleeping like a dormouse there, maybe he was snoring, I don't know if the Lord was snoring but it is possible .

They will be saying: listen to me the Pastor is destroying the Lord this morning. The fact is that the Lord is there calmly, sleeping soundly and the storm raging around Him and the disciples screaming and despairing, the Lord calm there; because? Because He knows who He is, He is God. He is the King of the storm, he is the Lord of lords. There was no safer place nor has there ever been in the entire universe than that moment and that place where the disciples are with a storm around but with the King of kings inside the boat.

The safe place is where the Lord is, no matter what happens around you. And the Lord was so infused with the Father's Presence, He knew His Father. He lived in the Father and the Father in Him and therefore the storm could not undermine him and we have to cultivate that sense of the Presence of God in our lives; We have to take time out of the day to visualize the Father, to remember: I am a child of God, I am precious to God, God has purposes in my life. That Word of confession of faith has to come out of our mouth.

We have to declare God's blessings, we have to take time to remember that God is in our life. Most of us are so absorbed and so attuned to the world out there that the Presence of the Lord sort of dissipates and becomes distant and when tribulations and trials come we don't know what to do. That is why we have to always keep the Lord close and meditate on Him because that will determine the difference in how we react.

I wonder was the Lord really sleeping? Yes, but I also think that it is possible that the Lord was testing them; He was with a mischievous smile pretending he was asleep, it is an alternative interpretation. Let's see what they do now, how they deal with this situation. It's possible too, right? the Lord was an incredible Teacher so sometimes I have wondered if the Lord was just testing them to see what would happen because the Lord was committed to them.

Notice the words of First Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 24: "Faithful is he who calls you who will also do it." He wanted them to understand: if I told them that we are going to go to the other shore, I want them to understand that it is going to be like that and I am going to let them stew in their own juice for a little while so that they can learn a lesson. I always say that if Christ is in our life, failure is not possible and He sometimes allows the test to come to illustrate that truth.

Romans chapter 8 verse 28 and verse 31 says, "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God." "To those who love God all things work together for good, this is to those who are called according to His Purpose" and verse 31: "What then shall we say to this, if God is with us, who against us?" amen?. Verse 32: "He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also give us all things with him?" and the Lord wants those truths, those promises to penetrate our lives and sometimes He allows difficult situations to come for us to collect and remember those truths and put them into practice.

Then the already desperate disciples, not knowing what else to do, approached the Lord and said: "Lord, don't you care that we perish?" They are already upset with the Lord and even in their request there is something like an accusation; Don't you realize what we're going through? What happens many times when the test comes to us? that we question the character of God, we question the faithfulness of the Lord. Don't you see Lord what I'm going through, why do you allow this? are you not careful that we perish? The Lord's response is: Of course I am careful, nothing will happen because I am with you.

Matthew 6:31 and 32 the Lord is always reminding us because He knows that sooner or later worry, fear and anxiety are going to come into our lives and the Bible is full of those calls from the Lord to remember that He loves us and He knows us. Look at verse 27, Matthew 6:27 says: "And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his stature? Why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field how they grow, they do not work or spin but I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory was dressed like one of them And if the grass of the field that is today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven God clothes it like this, will he not do much more to you men of little faith? Do not worry, then, saying: what shall we eat or what shall we drink or what shall we wear? for the Gentiles seek all these things but your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things."

The eye of the Lord is always on your life brother, the Lord knows what you are going through. I never asked the Lord: Lord, why have you abandoned me? why have you neglected me? No, the Lord has a purpose and what He wants is for you to go to the place where the solution is and He has the solution. It may take a little time, it may take a little longer, but He has the solution for your life. .

I have discovered brothers that God is very economical in His movements. Generally it is neither ahead nor behind; God works at the right time. We are the ones who chicken out and want Him to work sometimes prematurely and get us out of trial sometimes sooner than it takes for the trial to fulfill its purpose in our lives. Each trial that comes into your life has a purpose, it has a process and what you have to ask the Lord is to give you discernment and wisdom to determine and understand what God is accomplishing with this and give you strength to run the process completely until you fulfill everything He wants and then He takes you out strengthened, perfected, polished and better prepared to serve Him.

God is a precise God and sometimes He will allow the test to last a little while but it is for your own good. Meanwhile He takes care of you, He strengthens you, He supports you, He is ministering to your life. And then the Lord works, agrees to their request and gets up and says to the storm: Shut up, be silent. How good it is that they did what they had to do; They went to where the Lord, although they did it in an accusative and imperfect way, they did what they had to do. When the test comes, it is time for you to gird your loins and strengthen yourself in prayer and seek more from the Lord, have more time to seek Him, to fill yourself with His strength, to impregnate yourself with the sense of the Presence of God.

When trials come into my life, I know that instead of running away or complaining or stopping praying, what I have to do is the opposite; I have to pray more, I have to take more time to seek Him, I have to start reading those promises from the Word of the Lord, those texts that remind me that God is faithful, that God is good, that God is loving, that He He is merciful, that He is with me and fill me with that strength and declare the Word of God to the air and make that Word a magnet that attracts the blessing of the Lord and attracts the blessing to my life.

And that is what we have to do, cry out, go to the Lord as they were and ask the Lord to do what He wanted to do. I'm finishing, but that question that the Lord asks is important. When He silences the storm and silences it, He turns to them and says: "Why are you so frightened? Why don't you have faith?" is a revealing question.

What bothered the Lord was not so much the fear of the disciples but the panic, the loss of their dignity; the lack of control they showed led them to speak to him like that in an irreverent way. The word frightened in the original Greek is the word deiloi which means: cowed, panicked, intimidated.

There is a difference in life brother when we are going through the test of experiencing a healthy sadness, experiencing a certain concern about the future because the truth if they tell you: you have a health condition that is going to make you have to take pills the rest of your life the truth is that if you don't feel a little scared you need a psychiatrist more than a doctor, of course one does. One enters into a time of fear and anxiety but I believe that there is a difference between a healthy and normal fear and a human concern and losing peace, despairing, entering into a neurosis; doubt the Lord, stop looking for Him, stop going to His Word.

The Christian is a soldier and a soldier never runs away. How ugly a soldier looks with a rifle and a revolver crying like an enemy's baby and that is what the Lord does not want from us, that we despair. I believe that this is the difference between a person who has Christ in his heart and who is a person of faith; It's not that you don't fear, it's not that you don't suffer, it's simply that you don't despair, that you don't lose your head, and I think that's what bothered the Lord in this case.

Look at First Corinthians chapter 4 in verse 7 it says: "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels so that the excellence of the Power is from God and not from us who are afflicted in everything but not anguished, in trouble but not desperate, persecuted but not helpless, struck down but not destroyed." In other words, we can be in tribulation, anguish and everything, but we are not in a panic, we are not without a way out, we are not without an answer, we are not without a solution, we are not cornered. There is always an answer to every need and the Lord wants that while we are in the crucible of the test we remain planted in His Promise and in His fidelity, amen?

May the Lord this morning that even though we are going through any problem and any tribulation of life, we keep our eyes on Him, we know that the Lord is in my family; The Lord is in my house, the Lord is in my workplace where there are problems with the other employees, where I have a somewhat hateful boss. The Lord is in my boat, he is in my house despite the debts coming, despite the fact that there is illness, maintain your established position; don't panic, don't despair. The Lord says: I am with you; trust Me and keep your eyes on Me. God bless you.

Father: thank you, we trust that you are with us. Thank you for Your words of assurance and promise because You are a faithful God in whom we can trust. This morning we renounce despair and anxiety and clothe ourselves with that certainty that You will never leave us or forsake us. Fill our hearts with that peace this day in Jesus Name, amen and amen. Glory to the Lord.