I’ve been camping out in the book of Mark lately, and Mark chapter 6 especially. I’ve been praying for miracles, and Mark is such a power-packed book. Miracle followed by miracle followed by miracle.
The disciples had come back from ministering and people were still coming in and out, to the point that Jesus looked at them and said, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”
I’m sure they were excited about that. Ministry can be exhausting. It’s rewarding, but it can be super tiring, so Jesus noticed they were needing some rest, and He was wanting to take care of their natural needs. So, they left to go somewhere else to rest.
But on the way…plans changed. The people had overhead the plan and arrived at their retreat before they did.
I wonder what the disciples thought. I think I might have cried. They probably wanted to sneak in the back door or just keep on going to the next town.
But Jesus was moved with compassion and began teaching the crowds. So, instead of getting some R&R, the disciples were ministering again to a large crowd. Again, I think I might have cried.
It finally got so late and hunger and exhaustion were probably getting the best of them that they turned to Jesus and said, “Dude, enough already. Can’t you see these people are hungry and tired? It’s late. Let them go so they can go eat. How about we close it down?”
Can you imagine asking Jesus to close it down? To stop preaching?
And He turned to His hungry and tired disciples and said, “You feed them.”
So now, on top of never-ending ministry and plans changing so they didn’t get to rest and relax alone with Jesus, they get to cook dinner for 5,000 people. Again with the crying.
One thing I noticed about Jesus is anytime plans changed or got interrupted, there was always a miracle close by.
And the disciples got to be part of the miracle. How cool is that? Jesus broke that small amount of fish and bread over and over and they passed it out to over 5,000 people with basketfuls leftover. I would have loved to be a part of that, tired or not.
Then, He turned to them and made them get on the boat to go get some R&R and He went Himself to the mountainside to pray. They finally got to get on with the plan to rest.
Until….the storm blew up. At that point I know I would be thinking, “Wow! Really? We FINALLY get to go rest and now something else went wrong? Can’t anything go right? Can’t we have a break?”
And then…Jesus came walking out to them on the water – and Peter got to walk on the water too (again, how cool is that?) – and He calmed the storm.
What’s the moral of the story?
We can make our lists and set our plan, but plans change. Things don’t always go as expected. Sometimes you get blasted with one thing going wrong after another with no break in sight. I could tell you story after story from experience.
But this is what I’m learning. Instead of getting discouraged and down and depressed, look for the miracle. Instead of saying, “Why, Lord, why?”, I’m looking for a display of the power of God.
I’m looking for Him to be with me no matter what I face and do whatever it takes to calm the storm around me. I’m watching to see the cool miracles He will do for me and through me. He’s faithful like that.
Without the interruption of the crowd, we wouldn’t know God would multiply natural resources to meet our needs. If He didn’t put them on that boat with a storm coming, we wouldn’t know He can supersede all the forces of nature to calm the storms in our lives.
No matter what comes at us, our God is greater, and He will work it out in our favor.