BELIEF!
Mark 6:51
“Then He went up into the boat to them, and the wind ceased. And they were greatly amazed in themselves beyond measure, and marveled.”
It is easy to slip into the habit of thinking that the disciples of Jesus were spiritually mature and always believed without ever having doubts or questions. His disciples had just witnessed Jesus feed 5,000 men (not counting the women and children) with just 5 loaves and 2 fish. Just a cursory calculation will reveal that it would have taken about 10,000 pounds of bread and fish to feed the multitude. Not only that, they had far more food (twelve baskets) when they collected the left-over broken pieces. We are told that they failed to believe because of their hardened hearts.
Jesus saw them straining at the oars during the fourth watch (3-6 a.m.) and He came to them walking on the water. When Jesus got into the boat the wind stopped and they were frightened and astonished…because they lacked faith and still had hard hearts.
They were very much like we are in our day and age—always asking for more and more, but not having a heart that is humble and broken before our Creator and eager to acknowledge Him as the Lord of our lives. The enemy of our soul delights in sowing the seeds of doubt which cause us to try to explain things as being coincidental or to be able to reason them out scientifically.
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil