“For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened.” Mark 6:52
The scene was a storm on the Sea of Galilee. In a ship, the disciples were right in the middle of it, and Jesus was not there with them. He came to them walking on the water, and calmed the storm. Their reaction was one of great astonishment.
In the verse that closes out this account, the gospel author makes clear that one of the lessons we are meant to learn from this is what we’ll call the spiritual dullness of the disciples. You see, just before they had gotten into the ship to cross over, Jesus had just fed over 5,000 people with a very small amount of bread and fish. Amazing! Yet, it appears that great demonstration of Jesus’ power did not make the lasting impression it should have. His own disciples had all but forgotten the miracle and were panicking as they faced the next challenge.
If you are a follower of Jesus, does that sound familiar? I would guess that it hits way too close to home for you, as it does for me. There is no denying that the storm on Galilee was scary and a real trial. The same is true in our lives. We do face real challenges, large and small. But, God has called us to trust Him. He has called us to remember His sufficiency and His past faithfulness. He has given us evidences in Scripture of His committed love to His people, and has given us personally great mercies in our own experience.
Remembering these things should shake us from our spiritual hardness and dullness of faith. When we are prone to having a view of things where the circumstances dwarf God, let us fight against that dullness and meditate on God’s faithfulness.
So, be convicted of weak faith. Let us learn again the lesson. But, let us also take hope. As Jesus didn’t abandon His disciples because they were weak, He won’t abandon us. As He kept teaching them some of the same lessons over and over, let us pray that He will keep teaching us. And, let us pray that we will better learn and practice trust in Jesus.
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