He Saw Them Straining

Mark 6: 45-52, '45 Immediately He made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while He sent the multitude away. 46 And when He had sent them away, He departed to the mountain to pray. 47 Now when evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea; and He was alone on the land. 48 Then He saw them straining at rowing, for the wind was against them. Now about the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea, and would have passed them by. 49 And when they saw Him walking on the sea, they supposed it was a ghost, and cried out; 50 for they all saw Him and were troubled. But immediately He talked with them and said to them, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.” 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. 52 For they had not understood about the loaves, because their heart was hardened.'

Our goal as believers is to get to the other side. In our text, we see that Jesus 'made' them go across...these well-trained fishermen understood the waters were unkind, but Jesus wanted them in the boat anyway! Verse 48 is the text I want you to pay attention to...Jesus knew they were going to struggle, He watched them anyway. I wonder if He simply wanted to see what decisions they were going to make during the time of their struggles. What do you do, when the waves of life keep crashing in on you?

Do you quit, or do you keep rowing? No doubt, they were tired - I mean, they fed over 5, 000 people that day! This didn't take 10 minutes, this took all day long! So their physical strength is spent, and the difficulty of making it across, probably sapped their spiritual strength! This happens to you and I when life crashes in on us...but I'm here to tell you - it's not what happens to you, but how you process it!

Finally, Jesus called out to them after supposing they had seen a ghost! We always expect the worse when we're tired...however, Jesus got into the boat and calmed the storm for them...He will do the same for us if we cry out to Him! Be real with God! If you see a ghost, cry out - it's the Lord there - He said so Himself!  You know, you can live on the strength of verse 50...'Be of good cheer...do not be afraid...'

Knowing that is knowing enough...keep rowing - Jesus will walk up and get in with you...not to help you row, but to calm the storm!