Don't forget his power!
45 Immediately after this, Jesus insisted that His disciples get back into the boat and head across the lake to Bethsaida, while He sent the people home. 46 After telling everyone good-bye, He went up into the hills by Himself to pray.
47 Late that night, the disciples were in their boat in the middle of the lake, and Jesus was alone on land. 48 He saw that they were in serious trouble, rowing hard and struggling against the wind and waves. About three o'clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on the water. He intended to go past them, 49 but when they saw Him walking on the water, they cried out in terror, thinking He was a ghost.
50 They were all terrified when they saw Him. But Jesus spoke to them at once. "Don't be afraid," He said. "Take courage! I am here! " 51 Then He climbed into the boat, and the wind stopped.
They were totally amazed, 52 for they still didn't understand the significance of the miracle of the loaves. Their hearts were too hard to take it in.
If you want to get to know somebody you have to spend some time with them, the disciples had three years of everyday events and teachable moments that they could learn some more about who Jesus is, but these guys still didn't seem to know very much about Jesus.
He has already done a lot of healing, they have seen demons leave a man and enter a bunch of pigs, they have seen a dead girl brought back to life and just a few hours ago Jesus feed a crowd from one lunch box.
So in today's story Jesus finishes his quiet time and decides to catch up with the disciples on the lake, he doesn't have or even need a boat, he just goes for a walk. The fact that he is walking on the water should give them a clue that Jesus is capable of handling the storm situation but again they are not catching on too quickly.
These guys had seen Jesus power in action over and over again and yet they were "totally amazed" when Jesus handles the storm. I can relate to that, having grown up in a Christian family in a Baptist church and having accepted Christ at the age of nine, I should have had a better understanding of Jesus power to conquer some of the problems that scared me, there were plenty of storms where I didn't rely on Jesus and his power. I was just as "totally amazed" as they were.
I need to rely on Jesus power through every circumstance that comes my way, I don't want the Teacher to have to ask me:
Mark 8:21 "Don't you understand yet?"
Help me to rely on you Lord and avoid the panic that occurs when I fail to remember who is in control.
