Recently, my wife purchased one-pound weights to carry when going for a walk. I’ve tried using them. They don’t feel heavy at all. However, imagine adding one pound a day, every day. Initially, it would be fine, but eventually, you would feel the reality of many one-pound weights added to your body!
As I write this, I am aware that I’ve been carrying many one-pound weights in my soul.
How can I tell?
My mind struggles with feeling numb and just going through the motions.
My to-do list seems unending, and I feel growing frustration when even a small thing is added to it.
With a constant barrage of chaos and calamity in the news, I find myself struggling with, on the one hand, feeling callous and wanting to avoid the news altogether because I don’t feel like I can handle any more, and, on the other hand, my soul feeling fearful and despondent because of news of tragedies, from pictures of those swept away by the Texas flood to images of a plane crash in India. In fear, I want to make sure my kids are protected and pull them back from any and every activity. In the back of my mind, I feel unsettled about my next travel on a plane.
Maybe you can relate in some way. We live in a world of clamor. News of chaos and calamities keeps coming, whether in our personal circles, in the church, or in the world.
But here’s the great hope: In a world of clamor, the gospel brings calm and courage.
His Power Is Greater
In the book of Daniel, we are told of God’s people living in a world of clamor.
The city of Babylon is characterized by oppressive power and grandiose pride. Imagine the fear that God’s people must have experienced as they were sent there as exiles and pressured to give up their faith, often under threat of death. Such was the case with Daniel and his friends.
And yet, even as we see God’s people under such a threatening power, we are told of a far greater power: the power of the Almighty God.
As his wayward people experience storms and suffering in Babylon, the Sovereign Lord does not give up on them; he upholds his promise to use his mighty power to save them and bring them home from exile. We see this in the way God delivers Daniel and his friends from harm. We see this in the dreams and visions Daniel has of the Lord triumphing over all oppressive kingdoms and rulers.
What a comforting truth that my anxious and weary soul needs to hear: In a world of clamor, God reigns and has all power.
The Calm in the Storm
At my church, we’ve been going through the gospel of Mark for our current sermon series. In Mark 4:35–41, when a great storm rages while the disciples are on a boat, Jesus is shockingly asleep. Like the disciples, we wonder whether he cares about the storms we are facing. And yet, Jesus sleeps not because he does not care but because he is the Sovereign Lord and is not concerned or anxious. With his simple yet powerful command to stop, the storm ceases.
In his great power, Jesus, who calmed the raging storm, can also calm the unsettling or raging fears in our hearts.
How can we know this to be true?
Because Jesus is the Lord of the storm. On the cross, Jesus endured the greatest storm when he took our sin and endured the judgment we deserve so that we can have his peace. As he took our sin upon himself, Jesus, the greater Daniel, experienced the ultimate exile. He was cast out from his Father’s presence, not because of his sin but for our sin. Jesus experienced this ultimate exile on the cross so that he could bring us back from the exile of sin and separation from God into our eternal home.
One day, all storms will cease. All the clamor of wars and fears will be done away with. Jesus will return, bring us home from the Babylon that is this world of sin and sorrow, and make all things new. But until then, he promises that he will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).
Friends, this is why our hearts can be calm. This is why we can also have courage in the gospel.
He Lifts the Weights
Earlier in the Gospel of Mark, there is the story of a paralyzed man who is carried to Jesus (Mark 2:1–12). The religious leaders are suspicious of Jesus, and they are utterly shocked when he declares himself to be the Lord God with all authority and power. To show that the Son of Man has power to forgive sins, Jesus says to the paralyzed man, “Rise, pick up your bed, and go” (v. 11). The paralyzed man gets up, picks up his bed, and goes!
Do you feel paralyzed or stuck today?
Perhaps, like me, you’ve realized that you’re carrying many one-pound weights that have slowly brought your soul to a grinding halt. Perhaps all those one-pound weights have brought about a paralysis of fear or cynicism. You can’t move because of anxiety, or you can’t move because you feel unmotivated or overwhelmed.
To you, Jesus comes and says, “Rise, get up and walk!”
Jesus is the powerful Lord. The same Lord who was with Daniel in exile is with you and me in our exile. And one day, Jesus will bring us home out of Babylon. Until then, may the gospel fill you with courage and strength, even in a world of calamity and clamor.
May the gospel free you from all the one-pound weights and burdens that come from living in a sin-filled world, and may you run the race that is set before you, looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of your faith (Hebrews 12:1–2).
Paul S. Kim, MDiv, DMin (current), is the Senior Pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in San Diego, a multiethnic and intergenerational church that started as a church plant, merged with another church, and now actively engages in church planting and discipleship movements around the world. He is the author of Daniel: Firm in Adversity. Paul is married to Linda, and they have three children.