Plain Sight

Mark 6:48 And having seen that they were troubled and tormented in (their) rowing, for the wind was against them, about the fourth watch of the night (between 3:00-6:00am)  He came to them, walking (directly) on the sea.  And He acted as if He meant to pass by them.

Have you ever wondered where Jesus was in the midst of your storm?  Have you ever looked around to see if you could spot Jesus’ hand in anything around you?  Have you ever just sat alone and cried out for God, but still not knowing if He truly was there?

I have done all of these things, and maybe even most of them this week, but in Mark 6:48 we have the answer to those questions, as well as many others I am sure we can come up with.

You see, the disciples had just had a big day with Jesus, handing out fish and bread to way over five thousand men, not counting woman and children, and as I would surmise were on a miracle high.

They had just went through such extremes of emotions from feeling lost, confusion, hopeless, helpless, worried and probably anxious at how to feed all of these people, who have come to listen to Jesus speak. 

The disciples then after listening to Jesus, and watching Him bless and give thanks to God for the two fish and five loaves of bread, watched the baskets overflow with fish and bread. 

Overflow… Overflow… Abundance… aren’t we to have an abundance mentality, an overflow mentality?

The disciples had so much of the food left over, that Jesus commanded them to pick up the scraps, which totaled to over twelve baskets. 

Now, after seeing and living through all of this I would think that the disciple’s feet weren’t touching the ground from the high that they were on.  The God high they were experiencing, I would assume is the only good high we should have in life!

They all got into the boat and began their travels across to the other side.  Jesus had told them to go ahead of Him, so that He could spend time with God, praying and being still.  I personally think that He needed a recharge be restored from God, from the day’s events.  

As Jesus was on the mountaintop, He noticed that the disciples were in trouble.  That they were in harm’s way and that they were fearful. 

Now, let’s stop right there.  He noticed? How did He notice?  Let’s remember that He was on the mountain top for a long time, an extended period of time.  He was up there so long that the fourth watchman had come on duty, which the Bible says means it was between three and six am. 

I would feel very confident in saying, and believing that the distance they had traveled away from Jesus was great.  Meaning, Jesus wasn’t able to “see” them with His earthly vision.  Jesus wasn’t looking from the mountain top, and even with binoculars , wasn't able to see them struggling in the storm.

This made me stop for a moment and think.  I know that God is everywhere, He is all knowing and He can see, hear and think everything that we are, but when I read tonight that Jesus could see that the disciples were in trouble, I thought, well that’s not possible, because they are so far away from Him at this point.

Then I thought, yes, but I am reading about Jesus here, and Jesus is not like you and me.  Jesus has all the same abilities that God has, and since God is all knowing, all seeing and all being, than so is Jesus.

This then gave me another thought… the disciples never called for Jesus.  It’s not like they had a cell phone, and could text Jesus, hey, we need some help over here, if you are done praying can you come save us.  No, they had no way to physically connect to Jesus; so again, Jesus had to be able to “see” them, to know they were in trouble.

What relief this should bring to our hearts and minds. 

This should take a load of burdens, worries, anxieties and fears off of us and hand them right back to satan, where they originated.  This means, get this, if Jesus was able to see the disciples when they were in need of Him, He can see us when we are in need of Him.

Jesus can come to us, like He did to the disciples, by way of water walking I must add, before we even come to Him.  Jesus, can sense, see, feel or know that we are in trouble, in danger or in some kind of distress, and that we need Him, before we even know we need Him.

How amazing is that!  How awesome is that!  What ease does that put on your heart!

Knowing the creator of the universe has it covered, before you even know there is anything that needs to be covered.

I love that in Mark 6:48 it says that He came to them!  He came to them!  He walked right over to them, and though it seemed as if He was going to walk right by them, He still came for them.

How many times do you think that Jesus came for you, before you let Him in? 

I can’t even begin to count the times that I knew I needed to surrender my life to God and allow Him to be the head of my life.  I don’t think I can count that high. 

There have been many times in my life where I knew God was calling me, I knew that He had placed people in my life on purpose to help bring me to Him, but yet, I continued on my own path, on my own boat. 

But He never stopped coming for me. 

He never stopped watching and coming for me when I was in storms.   Jesus never turned His head or hand to me when I was in the storms of my life, and He never will for you either.

In Mark 6:48 we see that the Jesus, the Lord, the Savior, that we have all closed our ears too, our eyes too and have hardened our hearts too, is watching over us, and sees when we are in danger.  That should be enough to fall to your knees right now and accept Him for just that!

Jesus, that wonderful, selfless inspiration of a human being is watching over you, He is guarding you and keeping you safe.   And though storms, waves and wind might come against you, Jesus is always there on top of the mountain watching you, getting ready to walk on water directly to where you are!! 

Will you be so bold as to meet Him half way?  He will be there waiting for you…  As He will already see you coming!