Christmas Anxiety Series: Scripture Meditation

Thu Dec 23

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Hey, Sandals Church. You know, scripture meditation has long been used by Christians to deal with stress and anxiety. Scripture meditation doesn’t need to be weird. It’s really just taking a long look at God, found in the pages of his word, the Bible. So, there was a time in my life when I dealt with high levels of anxiety and high levels of stress. And there was a passage in particular that I meditated on a ton that helped me out a lot. Now, this is from Mark 4, and I want you to imagine this scene. Jesus is ministering in his hometown, and he’s saying, “Let’s cross the lake. Let’s go to the other side, and let’s minister over there.” Now the guys who are going with Him, His friends, these disciples, are well acquainted with this body of water. They’ve been on it a ton. And so what’s gonna happen here in a minute doesn’t necessarily catch them by surprise, but I think their response will catch you by surprise. So let me read it to you here. “As evening came, Jesus said to the disciples, ‘Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.’ So they took Jesus in the boat and started out leaving crowds behind. But soon a fierce storm came up and high waves breaking into the boat and began to fill it with water. Jesus was sleeping in the back of the boat with his head on the cushion. The disciples woke Him shouting, ‘Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?’ When Jesus woke up, He rebuked the wind and the waves and said, ‘Silence, be still!’ Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm. Then He asked them, ‘Why are you so afraid? Do you still not have any faith?’ The disciples were absolutely terrified, ‘Who is this man,’ they asked, ‘that even the wind and the waves obey him?'” Powerful! Can you imagine that storm and these guys being so overwhelmed, so anxious, so stressed out that they gotta wake Jesus. You know, when I was thinking on this passage a lot, I would just imagine, there’s Jesus asleep in the boat, and He invites me to come over and just rest next to Him. Almost like He’s laying down, opens an eye and says, “Come on over here and sit with me.” Just being in his presence and imagining being in his presence was so powerful to me. You might, as you focus on God’s Word, find a different word that’s more meaningful to you. I encourage you as you meditate on scripture to focus on that. Imagine the scene, imagine the stress, the anxiety these individuals are going through and imagine where God is in the story, inviting you into His presence, just to be with Him. Amidst whatever storm is swirling around you, whatever anxiousness or anxiety that you are feeling, allow God to meet you there just as He did for me as I rested in the boat with Jesus. Hey, listen, I hope this has been super helpful to you. Stress and anxiety is tough, and I really hope you can take a lot from this practice. God bless you guys.