Jesus Sees and Help is On the Way

And he saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them: and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them. But when they saw him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit, and cried out: For they all saw him, and were troubled. And immediately he talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid. Mark 6:48-50 (KJV)

Yesterday, we looked at this passage and we discussed the fact that sometimes those things that appear frightening may actually be God at work. Today, let’s revisit the same passage and look at something else.

If you read the verses before, you’ll notice that Jesus sent them out in the boat. Then He went to pray. Afterwards, at what the Jews called the fourth watch of the night, which was between 3:00 and 6:00 a.m., Jesus “saw” them toiling in rowing. The Sea of Galilee is roughly 64 square miles, with the narrow part being 7 miles across. If Jesus sent them out, then went to pray, they would have gone several miles before He “saw” them. He would not have been able to see them struggling to row from that distance. In addition, He would not have seen them because it was dark out at that time. Jesus did not see them with His physical eyes, but by the Spirit. He must have had a vision of them, or the Bible would not tell us that He “saw” them. The Holy Spirit supernaturally showed Jesus their situation and led Jesus out onto the water to help the disciples. So, we see that there was more than one supernatural occurrence involved in this story.

One other thing we notice from this event is that Jesus was walking on the water and was about to pass them by. He went out to help them, but the Bible mentions that He was going to pass them by! Why didn’t He just walk directly to them? Why did He walk as though He was going to go on past them? I believe that Jesus did it in order for them to cry out to Him to ask for His help. Before sending them out in the boat, He had just miraculously fed a multitude and He expected them to be thinking on the supernatural event they just witnessed and be filled with faith. He wanted them to see Him and use their faith to request His supernatural help. Unfortunately, instead of being filled with faith and expecting the best, they were filled with fear and they imagined that He was an evil spirit. Instead of believing that they would be safe because Jesus had sent them out, their carnal imagination immediately believed that an evil apparition was going to do them in.

We have to believe that God has the best possible life planned for us. We have to recall the times that He has taken care of us in the past and the many miraculous things He has done. God always sees our circumstances and He is always ready to come to us and help us if we’ll just call to Him. If the waves are high in your life and you’re struggling to row, know that help is on the way. Be sure to recognize that help when it comes and be of good cheer- it is the Lord.