The end of each night is greeted by the sun.
How amazing is Scripture. No matter how many times a person reads from God’s Word, new things are revealed. Maybe I’m just slow, but I saw, for the first time this morning, that Jesus was “…about to pass by them…” in Mark 6:48. Now the disciples were in a boat on a stormy sea. On the other hand, Jesus was about to walk right past them. He was ‘okay’ to do that, knowing full well that their lives were in danger! Why would he do that to His closest followers?
One might argue that away, and say that it wasn’t meant to read like that. We would love to believe that Jesus would never do such a thing. However, the Greek word ‘thelo’ is used. That means he ‘chose’ or ‘willed’ to walk by. But why would He do that to someone He loves? It’s exactly because He loved them, that He did it. God wants us to recognise who He is. We read in Mark, that even after Jesus fed the 5 000 with a miniscule amount of food, they didn’t really recognise Him as the Messiah. “Wow, how shallow of them!” we might be saying.
Don’t we tend to do the same. God does the most amazing things in our lives, yet we fail to see Him in it. The most incredible gift of salvation should be enough for us to praise Him no matter our circumstances. Yet, we freak out when the storms rage in our lives. We see ‘waves’ and ‘ghosts’ around us, but we don’t recognise our Saviour. Storms are good for us and God knows that. We experience difficulties for 2 reasons:
- It strengthens our faith and resolve
- If we truly trust God, it forces us to recognise Him in the midst of the storm
Maybe it’s time that we stop asking God to take away the dark clouds. Let’s rather recognise His Majesty in the darkest part of the storm. I would rather find myself in the middle of life’s hurricanes, knowing my God; than ; living in the sunshine without Him. Who knows, maybe our blessing are found in raindrops. Maybe our healing does come through tear. If that’s what it takes to know that God is near, I say, “Bring on the rain. I want to know Him more!”
Have a wonderful day in the rain, knowing God is near.
Mark Davidson
