Daily Manna, Year Two · Day 39 · February 8
Peace, Be Still
“And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.”
Jesus spoke to the storm the same way He spoke to a demon.
The word "rebuked" is the one Mark used three chapters earlier, about an unclean spirit in the synagogue. Even the command uses the same Greek word. To the spirit Jesus said, "Hold thy peace, and come out of him." To the sea He said, "Peace, be still." He spoke to the storm as to something that had no business being there.
"And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm." The storm did not fade away over the next hour. A sea that had been filling the boat with water went flat at a word.
The strangest line comes afterward: "they feared exceedingly." They were more afraid once the danger had gone. The storm had frightened them, and the One who stopped it frightened them more.
He was in the boat, and He was not worried about the boat. That was true the whole time, even while He lay asleep on a pillow at the back of it. The wind and the sea obey Him, and He stays in the boat with His people.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year one reading for day 39 is Guided Eye (Psalm 32:8).