I am catching a moment in between cleaning up from brunch and visiting with my dear family! There are officially 18 of us here to celebrate my grandpa's (dad's dad) 8oth birthday. What a sweet blessing it has been!
I can't wait to share with you the highlights and pictures of our visit together... but I'll save that for another day! For today, I read something in Mark 6:52 that really caused me to pause and meditate. It was following the feeding of the 5,000.
The disciples were out on the water, in a storm, and Jesus met them walking on the water.
"Then He went up into the boat to them, and the wind ceased. And they were greatly amazed in themselves beyond measure, and marveled. For they had no understood about the loaves, because their heart was hardened." Mark 6:51-52
I can't help but wonder how that could have happened...how were their hearts so hard even in the midst of an amazing miracle like the feeding of the 5,000? Here is my speculation. I don't know that this is exactly the reason... but, as I put myself in the disciple's shoes, I saw an uncanny resemblance.
They had just come back from being sent out two by two...and they were headed out to a "deserted place to rest a while" per Jesus' orders. They get on a boat only to arrive at their "place of rest" to find a multitude of people who had beat them there and wanted to hear from Jesus. I don't know about them...but I would have been ready to hear the Lord tell them to go away, that He and His disciples needed a time of rest. His disciples had needs, too, right?! But Jesus, the ever perfect and precious example, set aside His own "desire" and had compassion on the crowd
(possibly over 10,000 people) and ministered to them...and then performed an AMAZING miracle.
The disciples missed the joy of seeing Jesus in a beautiful and amazing way. Their hearts were hard, I believe, because they were frustrated with the people and maybe even Jesus. Frustrated that it wasn't going their way...frustrated maybe that Jesus was doing something different than what they would have done. They missed out on the glory of the work of Jesus because their eyes were on their own desires and not Christ.
How easy is that for us to do? We don't like something the pastor, Sunday school teacher or nursery worker has done and so we spend Sunday morning thinking how we would do it differently instead of worshiping the Lord. Instead of looking for "evidences of grace" (as C J Mahaney puts it) in the lives of the believers around us, we spend all our time dwelling on the things we think are NOT like Christ and what they need to do to change.
And, through it all, we often miss our beautiful Savior and the work He IS doing and the ways He IS being glorified. He is and always will be on the Throne. No man can thwart His plans and He truly does what He pleases.
Join me in praying that God would help us to rest and trust Him, to keep our eyes fixed on Him ever looking to see how He is working and ever trusting that He will accomplish His plan, not only in our lives, but the lives around us!
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