Teacher, Don't You Care if We Drown?

Last night, my daughter made a request of me that... I found it difficult to know how to respond. "Mommy," she said, "since your prayers work so much better than anyone else's in this family, and since you've had years of experience talking to God, He listens to you better than us. Can you pray for no rain tomorrow?"

See, today we had planned an outdoor birthday party for her, and she has looked forward to it for a while. "Looked forward" seems insipid compared to what is actually happening. "Longing" might be more appropriate here.

I wasn't sure how to respond. I thought about saying, "We pray only in accordance with God's will, honey." Or, "Let's work on being content, whatever our circumstances" (definitely Biblical). Or, "You have just as much right to approach the throne of God as I do, dear girl."

This morning in my quiet time, I was in a few places. I started in Revelation 18, since I'm still reading through the book. I'll get to that in a minute. I went from there to Mark 4, and then ended with James 5. In James 5:13-18, James says: "Is any of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other, so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

"Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops."

Elijah is a tough act to follow, especially when there's a hurricane headed directly for our valley, supposed to hit today, and the odds of no rain look to be impossible.

This morning, I'm going to pray for no rain, in spite of the odds. Not for the sake of having a dry party day, but for the sake of illustrating to my daughter in a way she can understand and acknowledge just how the great God of heaven hears and responds to the smallest utterances of His saints. 

I pray that no matter what the outcome, that God will be glorified through this. I am very much against the idea of "railroading" my will into being, sort of pounding against the gates of heaven like a battering ram. I believe that in prayer, effective prayer, you first find the heartbeat of God, and then you pray in accordance with it.

The following message is where I believe God's heartbeat is. Let me explain.

I turned, then, to Mark 4:35-41, where Mark writes: "That day when evening came, He said to His disciples, 'Let us go over to the other side.' Leaving the crowd behind, they took Him along, just as He was, in the boat. There were also other boats with Him. A furious squall (hmm, equivalent to today's projected hurricane?) came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke Him and said to Him, 'Teacher, don't You care if we drown?'

"He got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the waves, 'Quiet! Be still!' (The Message version says: "Quiet! Settle down!" I like that.) Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

"He said to His disciples, 'Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?'

They were terrified and asked each other, 'Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey Him!'"

I'd just like to point out that the disciples asked - no, demanded - that Jesus do something. You might even say, they prayed fervently, in fear of their very lives. "Teacher, don't You care if we drown?" They knew that He could help them, although they were uncertain how to put their words into actual request form. Terror and desperation took away their language; they spoke from the very core of who they were. They didn't cloak their request in flowery language. "Dear Jesus, please calm the storm, if it is in Your will and Your plan. Please, if it's Your will, hold our boat together. If it's in Your plan, don't let us drown."

I'm not mocking or taking away from asking according to the Lord's will. That's absolutely what we should do. But don't you think that when God sees the desperate plea of our hearts, "in accordance with His will" is a given? "Teacher, don't You care if we drown?"

And then!!! After Jesus looked at the waves, and said, "Hey, lie down. Settle. Chill. You're scaring the children" (my paraphrase) ;), the disciples were "terrified." They asked each other: "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey Him!"

WHY ARE WE COMPLETELY THROWN FOR A LOOP WHEN GOD MOVES TO ANSWER WHAT WE'VE ASKED FOR?!!! As Beth Moore put it years ago: "When you pray, pray believing! Pray like you actually expect God to answer you!" Whether that answer is yes, no, or wait, pray as though He is actually listening!!

And in a way... this feeds right into Revelation 18, where I was reading this morning. The whole chapter is a lament, a cry of sadness for the "fall of Babylon." Now, I am no great Biblical scholar, I haven't read commentary after commentary on Revelation (or really on other parts of the Bible). But I do know that John wrote this book long after the fall of Babylon. His exile occurred while the Roman Empire was still in power, and Babylon was truly no longer a consideration.

That said, Babylon represented an idea, a concept. It represented the wealth of the nations, prosperity, and commercial security. The flow of lucre. The trading of the whole earth with her stores. The entire chapter talks about the transition of this great and prosperous city from what was to what is now, from the pinnacle of success to absolute degradation and poverty. "Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great! She has become a home for demons and a haunt for every evil spirit, a haunt for every unclean and detestable bird" (Revelation 18:2). "Woe! Woe, oh great city, where all who had ships on the sea became rich through her wealth! In one hour, she has been brought to ruin" (Revelation 18:19).

Now, I have no idea what this city or country represents according to prophetic interpretation; the footnotes in my Bible don't make a guess, and for all I know, John could be pointing it at Rome (although, you'd think he would have said Rome, instead of Babylon). But the Babylon described in this chapter reminds me oh-so-much of where we are as the United States of America, and the judgment of a nation that turns its back on the Lord. It rests right in line with what the Lord showed me through my vision a few days back about the empty cistern and the upside-down water bottle, about the dying, hard-packed field and the setting sun.

And so as I was praying today, I saw myself in an airplane. I had a parachute on, and the hatch on the side of the airplane was open, as though I were preparing to make a jump. But instead of standing in front of the hatch, I was huddled in the back corner of the plane in fetal position, trembling and afraid. At this point, I thought: This has to be from the Lord, because given my absolute horror of heights and the entire concept of sky-diving, I would never choose this picture as an object lesson.

Despite my fear, though, there was an inevitability about the jump that made me realize... I had to do it. So in a second's time, I found myself bursting into the air in free-fall with my stomach some 500 feet above me and my heart in my throat.

And then I found my rip-cord. I pulled it, and the parachute billowed above me, jerking my momentum from free-fall to controlled descent. 

Here was my interpretation that I think God was showing me: I am huddled in the corner of a plane, fearful of the absolute terror of free-fall, nearly paralyzed at the thought of destabilization and the turnaround of everything I've held secure, horrified of the thought that in upcoming months, there may be uncertainty of income, uncertainty of political leadership (there's already uncertainty!), uncertainty of protection for my own family. "Teacher, don't You care if we drown?"

When the free-fall comes... I've got to remember, the parachute is there. The fall is sure, but so is the stabilization. "Peace. Be still." Calm your chaotic thoughts; they are not from Me. The upheaval will happen; I will walk with You through it. "Lie down. Settle. Chill."

Who is this, that even the wind and the waves obey Him?

Welp, He's the One who created them, so what are we so afraid of? Lie down. "He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul" (Psalm 23:2b-3a). 

This is less about a rainless birthday party. It's much more about the response of the Lord to the free-fall of our insecurities. I'm praying. 

Amen. As always, please share if you feel so led. :)