Lessons at Sea (Continued)
If you think about it, the sea is a good place to learn lessons about discipleship. After all, though as humans we are totally dependent upon God for everything (see Job 12:10; Dan. 5:23; Acts 17:28), it is not so easy to forget it when you are out on the water, where what is beneath your feet will not hold you up but will swallow you instead. Perhaps that is why the Lord chose to use the sea to teach His disciples a few more lessons about faith, the key element for any successful discipleship.
Following a successful missionary tour (Mark 6:6-13), the feeding of the five thousand, and their first encounter on the lake, the disciples finally should have been catching on. The evening after the feeding of the five thousand, another storm overtook them on the lake, now without Jesus in the boat with them.
Read Matthew 14:22, 33 and Mark 6:45-52. What are the numerous mistakes the disciples made in these two accounts? 
Though one account omits the story of Peter walking on the water, one point both make is that those who witnessed what happened were duly impressed. Some openly called Jesus the Son of God; in Mark's account, they were amazed beyond measure about what they had experienced. It was one thing to be able to get the weather to obey Him, but to have the power to walk on water, especially during a storm? Truly they had been witnesses to the power of God in ways that few people have ever seen.
Read Mark 6:51, 52. What point do you think Mark was making about faith and belief? What lessons might there be for us in that point?
1 comment:
I've always thought of the many proofs of miracles presented to the disciples should have fortified their faith and dispelled their fear. Also, saying that I would be different if I were present at that time with Jesus. However, the question I have to ask myself is would I be any different? There are miracles today in my life personally as well as in others living among me. How small minded and fragile we are to have an abundance of miracles from God and be totally oblivious or indifferent toward them. What a shame.
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