What About Me?
In almost every card I write to my husband and children, whether for birthdays, anniversaries, or other special occasions I will write the phrase, “I love you every day!” I want to remind them that I do not just remember them or love them on these special days, the highlights, and high-achievement days, but I love them on the ordinary days too. I love them when there is no party, on the boring, hard, and disappointing days. I love them every day!
The twelve disciples of Jesus had many special high-achievement days, and they also had very many hard and disappointing days. We can read about a particularly hard day in Mark 4.
“On that [same] day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us go over to the other side [of the Sea of Galilee].” So leaving the crowd, they took Him with them, just as He was, in the boat. And other boats were with Him. And a fierce windstorm began to blow, and waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was already being swamped. But Jesus was in the stern, asleep [with His head] on the [sailor’s leather] cushion. And they woke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are about to die?”
Mark 4:35-39 (AMP)
When I imagine this scene in my mind, I can hear the way the men said this to Jesus. I hear the emphasis on the word “we.” “Teacher, do you not care that we are about to die?” The implication is that Jesus does absolutely care about other people, the crowds who followed them from place to place and clamored to get close to Jesus, to talk to Him or touch Him. Jesus cared about those people, He stayed up late, woke up early, traveled great distances, was constantly on the move, and endured not only discomfort, but outright sorrow and hardship for other people, those people. In that moment the disciples doubted, however, that Jesus cared about them the same way. They may have wondered if they were less important to Jesus than the crowd, if Jesus loved those other people more. After all, Jesus performed miracles for those people, but when the disciples needed a miracle Jesus was sleeping.
Haven’t we all felt like this before? I know I have. I have felt like Jesus was doing great things for everyone else and ignoring me. I have felt like I was last in the line for miracles, answered prayers, and open doors, and my turn never came. Whether I have said it out loud or not, I have felt it. “What about me? Don’t you care about me?”
Storms that come up in our lives can cause us to say, “What about me?” in our hearts. But the notion that God does not care about us, does not notice us, or prefers someone else over us is untrue. The account of Hagar when she was driven away by Sarah testifies to this.
“Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, ‘You are God Who Sees;’ for she said, ‘Have I not even here [in the wilderness] remained alive after seeing Him [who sees me with understanding and compassion]?’ Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi (Well of the Living One Who Sees Me); it is between Kadesh and Bered.
Gen. 16:13-14 (AMP)
This a real account of a real person. And because the Lord Jesus Christ is the same and does not ever change (Heb. 13:8) we know that if God took notice of, understood, and had compassion on a destitute servant who had nothing to offer Him, He notices us. At our lowest, our neediest, our most unsuccessful and insecure periods of our lives He sees us. He understands and has compassion for us. Yes, He cares when we are in the storm, He understands when we think we are at our end, and He shows compassion to us when we cry out to Him.
And He got up and [sternly] rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still (muzzled)!” And the wind died down [as if it had grown weary] and there was [at once] a great calm [a perfect peacefulness].
Mark 4:39 (AMP)
We know Jesus loved and cared about the disciples. He loves and cares about you too. He loves and cares about you specifically. His understanding and compassion for you will not fail and will not end. I pray that you accept the truth of His love for you in every circumstance. He loves you every day!
