SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
5/30/2012 8:22:27 AM
My Worship Time Focus: The stilling of the storm
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Mark
6:45-56
Message
of the verses: In the SD that was
done yesterday we looked at the last main point from Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary
on Mark and covered the first sub-point under it. He calls this last main point “The Unbelief
of His Disciples” and we looked at “The feeding of the 5,000” yesterday. Today we move on to the last twelve verses in
the sixth chapter of Mark.
The
stilling of the storm (vv. 45-56): “45
Immediately Jesus
made His disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side to
Bethsaida, while He Himself was sending the crowd away. 46 After bidding them
farewell, He left for the mountain to pray. 47 When it was evening, the boat
was in the middle of the sea, and He was alone on the land. 48 Seeing them
straining at the oars, for the wind was against them, at about the fourth watch
of the night He came to them, walking on the sea; and He intended to pass by
them. 49 But when they saw Him walking on the sea, they supposed that it was a
ghost, and cried out; 50 for they all saw Him and were terrified. But immediately
He spoke with them and said to them, "Take courage; it is I, do not be
afraid." 51 Then He got into the boat with them, and the wind stopped; and
they were utterly astonished, 52 for they had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but
their heart was hardened. 53 When they had crossed over they came to
land at Gennesaret, and moored to the shore. 54 When they got out of the boat, immediately the people
recognized Him, 55 and ran about that whole country and began to carry here and
there on their pallets those who were sick, to the place they heard He was. 56
Wherever He entered villages, or cities, or countryside, they were laying the
sick in the market places, and imploring Him that they might just touch the
fringe of His cloak; and as many as touched it were being cured.” (NASB 95)
When we look at this section of
Scripture along with companion passages from Matthew and John we see some very
powerful miracles done. Jesus walking on
the water is seen in this section, while Peter walking on the water is seen in
the other gospels. We also see the
calming of the storm by Jesus and in John’s Gospel, we see a miracle that is
not seen in any of the other Gospels, and that is that as soon as Jesus got
into the boat they immediately got to shore.
I have often wondered if it was because Peter had influence in Mark’s
Gospel that the incident of Peter walking on the water and then losing faith
and was about to drown before Jesus saved him, was not covered by Mark. When I think of that part of the story I
think that there were twelve men in the boat, but only Peter had enough faith
to get out of the boat and walk on the water.
Just think that there are only two men who have walked on water, Jesus
and Peter.
Why Jesus sent His disciple away is
a question that we do not have an answer to, but we know that it was in the
will of Jesus to send them out into the storm.
Perhaps it was because the crowds were trying to take Jesus and make Him
their king for reasons stated in yesterday’s SD, or perhaps it was a lesson in
faith because of the spiritual high that they were on after being sent out to
do miracles and preach and also to be a part of the feeding of the 5000. Jesus had His reasons and they are always
perfect. Jesus spent much time praying
for them before He came to them.
This is a good time to write how
much this passage means to me. I once
heard a missionary friend of mine preach a sermon on this passage along with
the companion passages found in the other Gospels. He entitled his message “Blessings in the
Storms of Life,” and the message to me was like the Lord preaching it to
me. There was a great crisis in my life,
a crisis that still affects me some nine years later, but God has plans for me
in that crisis to bring about blessings and it was from that message that I
knew that God was at work in this crisis.
My friend had six points to his message that day and although I don’t
remember all of them, though I have a copy of the message on tape, I do
remember that Jesus sent His disciple out into the storm and then He prayed for
them while they were in the storm. Jesus
then came to them in the storm and calmed the storm, and then Jesus got them to
the place where He had told them to go, but they were not able to get there on
their own. As I went through the first
part of this crisis the Lord saw fit for me to tell some of my neighbors how
they could gain eternal life and I saw 18 people accept Jesus Christ as Savior
and Lord. One of them is now with the
Lord in heaven. That blessing is still
going on as there have been others who have gotten saved since that time. What a blessing the Lord gave to me in a
great crisis. I took some time to disciple
these people that the Lord saved and I believe that most of them are walking
with the Lord at this time.
Dr. Wiersbe writes on spiritual
highs, which is what the disciples of Jesus were on before He sent them out
into the storm. “They were on a
‘spiritual high’ and this in itself was dangerous. It is good to be on the mountaintop if you
don’t get careless and step off a cliff. Spiritual blessings must be balanced
with burdens and battles; otherwise, we may become pampered children instead of
mature sons and daughters.” Dr. Wiersbe
also points out of another storm found in Mark 4:35-41 that Jesus saw His
disciples through. He then points out
something interesting and that is when we look at the book of Acts we do not
find persecution begin until after 5000 people had been saved. Perhaps the disciples remembered and were
encouraged as they thought about this incident and how the Lord saw them
through this storm.
Dr. Wiersbe writes “Each new
experience of testing demands of us more faith and courage. In that first storm experience, the disciples
had Jesus in the boat with them; but this time, He was on the mountain praying
for them. He was teaching them to live
by faith. (For that matter, even when He
was in the ship with them, they were still afraid!) The scene illustrates the situation of God’s
people today: We are in the midst of
this stormy world, toiling and seemingly ready to sink, but He is in glory
interceding for us. When the hour seems
the darkest, He will come to us—and we will reach shore!” After reading and then the writing these
words from Dr. Wiersbe I can assure you that they are true because of the
crisis I was in and in some degree am still in.
What does this mean: “and He intended to pass by them.” Jesus wanted them to recognize Him, and He
wanted them to invite Him into the boat, and He wanted them to trust Him so
that their faith would be increased.
Verse 52 states: “for they had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves,
but their heart was hardened.” I
mentioned yesterday that this verse sticks out to me like no other verse in
this entire chapter. What is it all
about? “The miracle of the loaves and
fishes had made no lasting impression on them.
After all if Jesus could multiply food and feed thousands of people,
then surely He could protect them in the storm.
Even a disciple of Jesus Christ can develop a hard heart if he fails to
respond to the spiritual lessons that must be learned in the course of life and
ministry.” (Warren Wiersbe)
Let’s look at these miracles in view
of Psalm 23 verses one and four: “The
LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. Yea, though I walk through the valley of
the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.” These two verses show us that Jesus brings
protection and provision to those who are His own and these two miracles that
Jesus did in the last part of Mark 6 show us this.
In the last few verses we see that
Mark ends this chapter on a positive note as he writes about what Jesus did for
the people that were at Gennesaret, as He healed their sick, all of their
sick.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I
mentioned the fond memories that I have from this section of Scripture and the
Lord Jesus Christ has given provision and protection to me through the
crisis. Protection from the crisis does
not mean that it was life threatening to me in a physical sense. God is faithful!
My Steps of Faith for Today:
My desire is to remain (abide) in the Vine so that I can be used of the
Lord.
5/30/2012
9:35:44 AM
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