EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/23/2026
8:55 PM
My
Worship Time Focus:
“Epilogue:
The Storm After the Calm”
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference: Luke
8:25b
Message of the verse: “They were fearful and amazed, saying
to one another, “Who then is this, that He commands even the winds and the
water, and they obey Him?”
I will copy this section from John MacArthur’s
commentary, but will also quote the verses that he uses to help explain it.
“Having witnessed an astonishing,
unparalleled display of super-natural divine power, the disciples
understandably were fearful and amazed.
The only thing they found more terrifying than the storm outside
their boat was having the Creator and controller of the storm in it. The trauma
of realizing that only God could do such a miracle caused them to say to one
another, “Who then is this, that He commands even the winds and the water, and
they obey Him?” (cf. 8:37, 47, 56).”
(cf. 8:37, 47, 56)
“37 Then all the people of the surrounding
country of the Gerasenes asked him to depart from them, for they were seized
with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned.”
“47 And when the woman saw that she was not
hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before him declared in the
presence of all the people why she had touched him, and how she had been
immediately healed.”
“56 And her parents were amazed, but he charged
them to tell no one what had happened.’
“The obvious
and only answer to that rhetorical question is the one they gave later after
Jesus stilled another storm on the Sea of Galilee: “Those who were in the boat
worshiped Him, saying, ‘You are certainly God’s Son!’ (Matt. 14:33). By then
they had a firm answer to their question here.
“In response to Christ’s earlier
miracle on the lake, Peter had exclaimed, ‘Go away from me Lord, for I am a
sinful man, O Lord!’ (Luke 5:8)—a response that is typical of those who
experience God’s presence. Abraham
described himself as ‘dust and ashes’ (Gen. 18:27; Job humbly said, ‘I have
heard of You by the hearing of the ear; but now my eyes sees You; therefore I
retract, and I repent in dust and ashes’ (Job 42:5-6); after encountering the
preincarnate Christ in the person of the Angel of the Lord, Samson’s father ‘Manoah
said to his wife, ‘We will surely die, for we have seen God’’ (Judges13:22);
exposed to God’s presence on Mt. Sinai, the Israelites ‘trembled and stood at a
distance. Then they said to Moses, ‘Speak
to us yourself and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, or we will die’’(Ex.
20:18-19); overwhelmed by a vision of God in His heavenly temple, Isaiah cried,
‘Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I
am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my
eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts’ (Isa. 6:5); Ezekiel fell on his
face when he saw a vision of God (Ezek. 1:28); after seeing the glorified,
exalted Christ the apostle John ‘fell at his feet lie a dead man’ (Rev. 1:17).
“This brief vignette of Christ’s
life reveals Him in His divine glory as the One who controls all of the natural
forces of the universe. But not only
does it reveal His power, but also His compassionate care for those who are
His. This storm, as do all of life’s storms for believers,
served to increase the disciples’ faith in His willingness and ability to
deliver them from any situation, no matter how hopeless it may seem. Having experienced God’s gracious care for
him throughout his long and difficult ministry, the apostle Paul could say
confidently as his life drew to a close, ‘The Lord will rescue me from every
evil deed, and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom; to Him be the
glory forever and ever. Amen’ (2 Tim.
4:18).”
9/23/2026
9:22 PM
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