Episode 256: Seeing God through the Storm | Dave Sloop

Introduction

Good morning. Hope you guys are doing well. Hey, oh, thank you. This is yep, this is coupon. This is a coupon to Kroger. Thank you. Hey. Show of hands. How many of you are parents here this morning? I think you guys will instinctively understand what I'm about to say, and those of you who are not parents, I think that you'll understand this as well, but there has been nothing in my life that has expanded my view of God's love for me, his grace for me, his patience with me more than being a dad. Anybody else understand what I mean by that? Knowing, being a dad, has been such a great opportunity for me to understand what God's heart for me is. And, you know, I've always understood, for example, what God's love for me is unconditional. But then one day, a nurse placed a six pound, six ounce Sydney Jane Sloop in my hands, and I looked in that little face, and I knew unconditional love in an entirely new way. And in that moment, my understanding of God's love for me just blew up and expanded. In fact, I'm convinced that one of the reasons that God in His mercy lets us be parents is so that we can peek behind the curtain of His great love for us.

The Gift of Parenthood and Our Perspective on God's Love

Every once in a while, I'll have a moment with my child, and I'll just pause and smile and think, I think this is what God feels like. And I want to share one of those moments with you. I captured it on video, so we'll take a look, and then I'll talk about it.

Hey, Libby. Yeah. Don't spill them. I want you to spill them. You need some help? No. Hey, Levy. Yeah. Don't spill them. Why? Don't spill them. Sweetie, you didn't spill them. You're doing good. You're doing a good job. Just don't spill them. Okay? Good. I love you. Need some help? No. K. But don't spill them. I'll get them for you. Okay.

That was a precious moment as a father looking into the face of my sweet two-year-old child who just didn't understand what I was saying. What I knew as her dad is that if she spilled those bubbles, it was going to ruin her day and also mine. And I was trying to protect that tragedy from taking place, but somehow the message to Libby got lost in translation. Instead, what she heard was cruelty. How dare you take something away from me that I love?

The Question of God's Message and Our Understanding

How often does God's message to us get lost in translation? We can be like Libby, can't we? Maybe we're reading God's word, or we hear something taught from up here that's uncomfortable. We think, I wish that wasn't in there. If it was up to me, I wouldn't have said it like that. And we think, but why? Or maybe we stand back from the circumstances of our life or the life of someone that we know and love, and we see what's going on in their life and we think, but why? Why does this have to happen? A loving God wouldn't do it that way, would he? See, we can be just like that, just like a little kid who doesn't understand.

This morning, I want to look at a passage that I think it doesn't necessarily answer the question why, but it gives us some perspective on how God might be inviting us to live in the midst of the why. It's a miracle from the life of Jesus that takes place in Mark chapter six. But before we dig into that miracle, I want to tell you a little bit about what's happening in that chapter up into this point.

At the beginning of Mark six, Jesus calls his disciples to himself, and he sends them out two by two, and he gives them power over the evil spirits. They go out and they proclaim the coming of the kingdom of God, and they're casting out evil spirits, and they're anointing people and healing people. They come back to tell Jesus all that they had seen and done. You can imagine how excited they were. But when they get back to Jesus, it says that so many people were coming and going that they couldn't even rest. And so Jesus pulls them away to a remote place to get some rest and to be alone with him and to get something to eat. But as was often the case, the crowds follow Jesus. They see where the disciples and Jesus are headed, and they get there on foot ahead of him. When Jesus lands in the place that he was taking the disciples, it says he sees the crowds and he has compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. And he teaches them many things.

After a while, the disciples come up to Jesus and they say, hey, send these people away. Maybe they're motivated by frustration or just exhaustion. Send these people away so they can get something to eat. But Jesus looks back at them and says, you give them something to eat. Then through his disciples, Jesus performs the miraculous feeding of the 5,000.

And if you skip to the end of Mark chapter six, Jesus and his disciples land in a little place near Capernaum called Gennesaret. When they land on shore there, the people recognize Jesus. They go throughout the entire region, and they bring their sick and their lame and their blind, and they bring all these people to Jesus begging that they could just touch the edge of his cloak. And it says, all who touched him were healed.

In between these two incredible seasons of Jesus' miraculous healing ministry, you have this one little interesting familiar miracle where Jesus walks on water. Have you ever wondered why that's in there? Do you know the miracles that we have recorded in the scriptures are put there for a reason? At the end of John's gospel, he said,

If we were to have written down everything that Jesus did, there would not be room in the whole world to contain the books that were written about him. — John 21:25

So the ones that we have, the miracles that we have in the scriptures, they're there for a reason, and they're meant to show us something. Colossians 1:15 says that he is the image of the invisible God. And so when we see Jesus at work, we're meant to say, that's what God is like.

But also, the miracles of Jesus were signs and wonders, and they were meant to be a validation of his claim to be the Messiah. But then thirdly, I would say that the miracles of Jesus are also pointing to a kingdom that he will one day bring. A kingdom where there is no more pain, no more tears, no more sickness, no more death, no more dying. A kingdom that we instinctively know that we were made for, a kingdom where every sad thing comes untrue. And so Jesus' miracles are restorative in a sense. He's making blind people see again, and the sick are healed, and the dead come back to life, the hungry are fed. He's restoring. He's making things right. He's putting things back the way they're supposed to be.

It's a kingdom that we know we're made for because we say things like it shouldn't be this way because deep down, we know there's a way it ought to be. And one day, Jesus will bring that kingdom.

The Miracle in Mark 6

So what about this miracle? What does this point to about the character of Jesus? What is this telling us about him? Why is it that three of the four gospel writers choose to include this in their account of his life, death, and resurrection? The audience for this miracle are the 12 people who already know who he is, his 12 disciples. So, what was it that he wanted them to see, and therefore, what is it that he wants us to see? Let's find out. Let's take a look.

Mark 6 starting in verse 45. Here's what we read:

Immediately, Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida while he dismissed the crowd. After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray. When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. He saw the disciples straining at the oars because the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of the night, he went out to them.

Make three quick observations about what we've read so far:

First, that Jesus says, "he made them get into the boat." The Greek word there is he compelled them. This was not a suggestion. Jesus was not asking for feedback on what they should do next. This was a command. It was a call. He made them get into the boat and go on to the other side.

The second observation is that they are struggling. It says they were straining at the oars. The Greek word for straining is to torture. They were miserable. They were suffering. It says the wind was against them — literally, opposite them. The picture is that for every ounce of energy they were expending to get to the other side of the lake, there was an equal but opposite force pushing back, making it impossible for them to get anywhere. They were struggling. They were suffering. They were exhausted. They were being tortured, and they were exactly where Jesus called them to be.

Do you ever find yourself in a place where you sense this is exactly where God wants me to be, and it doesn’t feel good? It’s uncomfortable.

Before it gets better for the disciples, it gets worse because we read that Jesus goes up on a mountain by himself to pray and he sees them struggling. The fact that he can see them means that it’s light outside. It’s evening, maybe five or six in the evening. Then we read these painful words about the fourth watch of the night — somewhere between three and 6 a.m. What’s the implication? Jesus sees them struggling and he waits. He's patient, isn’t he?

We love his patience when it's aimed at our sin and our failure. But what about when he's being patient with our suffering? What about when he's being patient with our uncomfortable circumstances? That’s an entirely different pill to swallow.

I met Christ through the ministry of Young Life the summer before my freshman year of high school. And I knew from that day that I was going to be a Young Life leader. I, all through high school, was, you know, that kid that just was soaking in anything that my leader was willing to teach me. I always brought my friends, club, and campaigners and camp and was praying for them. When I got to JMU, I went to college, not to get an education, but to lead Young Life. That is just the truth. I went to college for Young Life. And I went through training. I got placed at Broadway High School. And in my junior year, a year and a half after I got placed, I began to struggle with what would later be diagnosed as social anxiety disorder. This most basic social interaction with another human being caused intense panic and fear. And for those of you that aren't familiar with this kind of condition, it does not pair well with being a Young Life leader. It is not, it is not the condition you want to have. But I suffered with this for three years in silence. I didn't tell a soul because I was afraid if I told anybody, they would be watching for it to happen. And so I suffered, and I begged God, and I was out on the water where he called me to be, straining against the oars, and he was silent, patient with my suffering.

It’s a hard and miserable place to be, to feel like you're out there where God called you and to feel abandoned. It’s probably how the disciples felt. You can imagine their frustration too. I mean, Jesus called them, remember, to get away, to get some time alone with him, and they never got that rest. Here comes the crowd, and then he sends them away, and now they’re stuck in the middle of a lake getting nowhere. They probably felt abandoned.

Is it possible that Jesus has more in mind for disciples than just getting to the other side of the lake? You know, a simplistic view of following Christ would say, hey. He called me there. Therefore, he will help me get to there. But is it possible that there's something else going on here, something more important that Jesus wants the disciples to see, something even more important than the ministry that would happen on the other side of the lake?

It says about the fourth watch of the night, he went out to them walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out because they all saw him and were terrified.

Notice the difference between Jesus’ power and the disciples’ power. The disciples were 12 guys in a boat, and they couldn’t get anywhere. Here comes Jesus in the same condition, same storm, same lake, and he moves effortlessly through the storm on top of the water. What was difficult for his disciples was easy for Jesus. Maybe that’s part of what he wanted them to see.

Let me read this interesting language. It says, "he was about to pass by them." I had to read that one a couple of times. It almost feels like it doesn’t belong there. It sounds cruel. He knows their suffering. Finally, he goes out to them; he's just gonna walk past. I don’t think that's what's intended here. Some commentators believe that language was intentionally used, and I agree with him, to remind us of another time that God passed by. Do you know the story?

Exodus 33. Moses, praying to God, has the audacity to say, Lord, show me your glory. And God answers his prayer. He says he hides him in the cleft of a rock and he covers his eyes, and the glory of God passes by him.

I think Mark wanted us to see the same thing: that that same glory of God, cloaked now in human form, is passing by these 12 ordinary men, and he wants to remind us who this is. This isn't just some ordinary man. This is God in the flesh. He wasn’t gonna pass by. If Jesus wanted to just pass by them, he could have gotten across the lake any way that he wanted to. He could have snapped his finger and appeared on the other side. He could have walked across the lake somewhere they wouldn’t have seen him. But Jesus wanted to be seen. Jesus gets close enough, almost like he was baiting them to call upon him, almost like he was the same person that said, ask and you will receive. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you. He gets close, but he doesn’t over-assert himself. And this is his style often. Not always, but often.

In chapter four, Jesus is in a boat again with his disciples, and they’re in a much more life-threatening storm. It says the waves are crashing over the boat so that it’s nearly swamped, and the disciples are freaking out. They’re terrified. And where is Jesus? Sleeping in the stern on a cushion. His presence is more obvious in that story, but it's the same thing. He waits to be called upon. He gets close enough. He makes his presence available, but not explicit. Instead of being comforted by his presence, it says they’re terrified. They think that he's a ghost. You can imagine, it’s dark, somewhere between three and six in the morning. It’s windy. It’s foggy. And they see this figure walking. It would have been scary, and they freaked out.

Is it possible to be so consumed with our circumstances that we stop seeing God clearly? We’re not able to see through the fog of whatever’s going on in our life, and we just miss him. When I was battling my season of anxiety for those three years, towards the end, I got to the point where I just stopped pursuing him. I never stopped believing in God, but I stopped pursuing him because it was too painful. I had reasoned that either God had forgotten about the struggle I was going through or he was punishing me. He was out to get me, and neither one of those was comforting. And so I withdrew. I pulled away because I wasn’t seeing the redeemer, the healer, the comforter anymore, who he actually was. I couldn’t see through the fog. I saw something different. And so I pulled away and withdrew.

I think that’s what the disciples were feeling at that moment. But then it says this, that Jesus immediately spoke to them and said, "Take courage. It is I. Don’t be afraid."

That phrase "take courage," which is sometimes translated "be of good cheer" or "take heart," depending on what version you have. That particular phrase is only used by or about Jesus, and it's used eight times in the New Testament. Seven of them, it's a direct quote from Jesus. One time, if you remember, the friends lowered the paralyzed man through the roof at Jesus’ feet, and he looks at the friends, and he sees their faith, and then he says to the man,

Take courage. Your sins are forgiven. — Matthew 9:2

Another time, the bleeding woman sneaks up behind Jesus and touches his cloak. You remember on that street where the crowds were surrounding him? And she's instantly healed, and Jesus turns around and says,

Daughter, take heart. Your faith has healed you. — Luke 8:48

Another time, blind Bartimaeus is calling out, "Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me." And the crowd says to Bartimaeus, "Take heart." He'll see you now.

Another time, Jesus is making sure that his disciples understand what kind of struggle and trials they will experience in this life. And he says, "Hey. In this life, you will have trouble, but take heart. I have overcome the world."

And then finally, in the book of Acts, the resurrected Christ speaks to Paul towards the end of Acts. Paul has been through tremendous persecution and suffering, almost to the point of death, but the Lord speaks to Paul and says,

Take heart. For in the same way that you proclaim my name in Jerusalem, you will also proclaim my name in Rome. — Acts 23:11

What’s interesting about this phrase is that every time it's used, it's connected to a set of circumstances that are about to change. Every one of those examples, except for this one. What Jesus says in this passage is, "Take courage. It is I." Take courage. I’m here. Take courage. My presence is enough. It’s all you need. What he literally says is, "Take courage. I am." The same God that spoke to Moses, the same name he claimed for himself through the burning bush, he uses here with his troubled disciples. And there’s no promise to change their circumstances, but only a promise to fill up those circumstances with his presence.

The Response and Application

Take courage. And then here’s how the story ends. It’s interesting. It says, "When he climbed into the boat with them, the wind died down, and they were completely amazed, for they had not understood about the loaves, for their hearts were hardened." This is one of those stories that ends with a peculiar verse at the end. It’s just kind of bizarre. You don’t even really know what it means. It says, "their hearts were hardened. They didn’t understand about the loaves." What was it that they didn’t understand? Well, on the one hand, you could say that a man who had the ability to feed 5,000 men and their families with five loaves and two fish probably also had the power to walk on water, and that would be true. But I think there’s something else going on here.

In John chapter 6, the parallel version of this same miracle, those people who were fed by Jesus, the 5,000, they see where the disciples are heading, and they travel by foot around the lake, and they beat the disciples and Jesus there. And it says they intended to make Jesus king by force. The Jewish people back then were oppressed by the Roman government, and they believed that one day Messiah would come, and they would deliver them from that political oppression. And they thought Jesus was the guy to do it, and they were ready for him to do it now, and they wanted to make him king. But Jesus, knowing their heart, said to them:

You are not here because you’ve seen the sign, but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Be careful not to work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life. — John 6:26-27

What was he saying? He was saying, you’re not here because of me, because you love me, and because you understand who I am. You’re here because of what you think I can accomplish for you. I’m a means to an end for you. Jesus said, that is food that spoils. He said, be careful. We’re for food that endures to eternal life. They said, well, what is the work that God requires? And Jesus said, "The work that God requires is this: believe in the one that he sent." They said, "Well, give us a sign. What sign will you do that we can believe that you are who you say you are?" He said, "Our ancestors ate bread in the wilderness, as it is written, they ate bread from heaven."

And Jesus said,

Very truly I say to you, it is not Moses who gave you bread, but my Father in heaven who gives you true bread from heaven. The bread of God is the bread from heaven that comes down and gives life to the world. — John 6:32-33

And they say, "Give us this bread always." And Jesus responds:

I am the bread. — John 6:35

John Piper, referring to this passage, says, "Jesus did not come to give bread, but to be bread." Jesus did not come just to give us the things in life that will satisfy us. He came to be that which satisfies.

What a wide but subtle trap we as his followers can fall into if we're not careful. The truth is he wants you satisfied. He wants you to live a fulfilling life. John 10:10 says:

The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

If we're not careful, what we can start to think that means is this: If you hitch your wagon to Jesus, you'll have better relationships, you'll have a better marriage, you'll raise your kids better. He'll clean up your act, you'll feel better about yourself. He might even help you in your career. Maybe even he'll give you a sense of purpose and significance in life. Maybe he’ll even let you impact people for his kingdom.

And all of those things may be true, and all of those things are good, but none of those things are Jesus. And all of them can become an idol if we're not careful. He did not come to give bread but to be bread. Has he become a means to an end for us, or is he our supreme treasure?

In my own personal battle with anxiety, God was bringing me to the end of myself. I say this with hindsight; I didn’t know it at the time. God was stripping me of everything I loved most about this life — my personality, my ability with people, my relational confidence, my sense of humor. He took it away overnight, and I was left with nothing but him. And I discovered that he was enough.

Have you heard the way that the biblical writers talk about their affection for God?

Taste and see that the Lord is good. — Psalm 34:8
You are my portion. — Lamentations 3:24
In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. — Psalm 16:11
Your love is better than life. — Psalm 63:3
As the deer pants for the water, so my soul longs for you. — Psalm 42:1
What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. — Philippians 3:8
He is more precious than silver, more costly than gold, more beautiful than diamonds. Nothing I desire compares with you. — Psalm 73:25-26

Is that a reflection of your heart and my heart for Christ? If not, then maybe we haven’t understood or have forgotten about the loaves. He did not come to give bread but to be bread. He came to be that satisfaction.

The Main Point: Learning Dependence on Jesus

See, Jesus called the disciples to get to the other side of the lake, but getting to the other side was not the main point. There was something he wanted them to experience on the way, and it was himself. It was his presence. He wanted them to learn to rely and depend on him.

I wonder what it is that God has called you to this morning. Are you straining at the oars? Are you struggling through something right now? I would imagine many of us are, and those of us that aren’t, we will one day.

Now maybe some of us here are feeling like we've been called to fight for a struggling or failing marriage. Maybe you are being invited to believe and pray for a wayward child. Perhaps God has invited you into a difficult season of waiting for a spouse or for a child. Or maybe God has allowed a season of loss and pain in your life.

Whatever it is, the main purpose from God's perspective is not just that we would get through that, but that we would experience him in the midst of it. That he might more fully be the object of our worship and affection.

You know, the truth is this is not just a lesson that we learned one time. At least, that’s not been the case for me. Years later, in 2008, Melissa and I were newly married. We were serving at Young Camp, Lake Champion up in New York. We were there for a month. We were coming to the end of that assignment, and we were leaving there. We were moving to Blacksburg, Virginia, to take a new job with Young Life that I felt unqualified, unprepared for. I had just learned that the area we were moving to was in deficit, so we were gonna have to raise a bunch of money when we got there just to get paid. And on top of all that, Melissa and I as a new couple were struggling in our marriage. We had a rocky start. Melissa had some sin that she was working through.

Nope. It was me. But I was hanging by a thread. It was a weak, weak moment for me, and I had to drag myself into God's presence. Nothing in my flesh wants to be there. It was one of those moments for me, and I cracked open this devotional that I’d been reading since I was a high school kid called My Upmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers, and it was 07/28/2008. And I’d like to read for you the words I read that morning when God came out to me walking on the water, when I was straining at the oars.

Here’s what it says:

We tend to think that if Jesus Christ compels us to do something and we are obedient to him, he will lead us to great success. We should never have the thought that our dreams of success are God's purpose for us. In fact, his purpose may be exactly the opposite. We have the idea that God is leading us toward a particular end or a desired goal, but he is not. The question of whether or not we arrive at a particular goal is of little importance, and reaching it becomes merely an episode along the way. What we see as only the process of reaching a particular end, God sees as the goal itself.

What is my vision of God's purpose for me? Whatever it may be, His purpose is for me to depend on Him and His power now. If I can stay calm, faithful, and unconfused while in the middle of the turmoil of life, the goal of the purpose of God is being accomplished in me.

God is not working toward a particular finish. His purpose is the process itself. What he desires for me is that I see him walking on the sea with no sure, no success, nor goal in sight, but simply having the absolute certainty that everything is alright because I see him walking on the sea. It is the process, not the outcome, that is glorifying to God. God's training is for now, not later. His purpose is for this very minute, not sometime in the future.

We have nothing to do with what will follow our obedience, and we are wrong to concern ourselves with it. What people call preparation, God sees as the goal himself. God's purpose is to enable me to see that he can walk on the storms of my life right now. If we have a further goal in mind, we are not paying close enough attention to the present time. However, if we realize that moment-by-moment obedience is the goal, then each moment as it comes is precious.

I don't know where you are this morning, but perhaps you, like me, are straining at the oars or you're in a season like that. We'd like to give you an opportunity this morning to respond. Jesus is inviting all of us to invite him into the midst of whatever it is we are going through. He came not just to give bread, but to be bread. Would you come this morning and let his presence minister to you? These curved rails are going to be open for those of you that would like to come and pray individually to meet with God, and then these straight rails to my left and to my right will have somebody there that would love to pray with you.

Conclusion

Let me pray. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for the way that it speaks to us, and it's alive, and it penetrates our hearts, and it transforms. God, I pray for anyone this morning that might be in the storm, straining at the oars. Lord, you see them. You might be waiting to go out to them, but you see them and your heart breaks. And I pray that anyone in that place might have the courage to invite you in to experience your presence, which is enough, that they might experience you as the object, the deepest object of their worship and affection. In Christ's name, I pray. Amen.