LET MY WORDS BE FEW

I really love God's Word.  It's always on time.  In reading Mark 6 this morning about the miracle of the multiplication of the bread and fish to feed 5000, I am reminded that the miracle itself really wasn't the end goal in mind.  The end goal was trusting God in the dark place before the miracle.  Just after the miracle of the bread and fish, these same disciples faced another dark place - Jesus sent his disciples into a boat to cross to the other side, with a lesson to learn.   NOTE: JESUS SENT THEM THERE.  As they went, they faced dangerously high winds on the lake. They were troubled and fearful because the wind was against them and in all their furious rowing, they were tirelessly going NO where fast.  Then they saw Jesus walking on the sea towards them.  But instead of recognising him for who He is, they shrieked with terror thinking he was a ghost.  Jesus called to them,  "Take heart, I AM!  Stop being alarmed and afraid!"  When Jesus got into the boat with them the wind ceased.
The Word says the disciples were exceedingly astonished at this 2nd miracle in a row, BECAUSE they failed to consider or understand the teaching and meaning of the miracle of the bread.  IN FACT, their hearts had grown callous and had become dull and they had lost the power of understanding.

In all our dark places and in all our circumstances that beg for God to act, the end is not the miracle.  The end is not the healing.  The end is not the check in the mail or the sudden turn of a prodigal.  The end is what we unlearn about I AM in the dark places.  God is always aware of our circumstances.

Mark 6 says JESUS sent the disciples ahead of Him into the boat and He could see their troubled situation from the hills and the land he was praying on. When He saw they were troubled, He came to them but AS THOUGH HE WAS GOING TO PASS THEM BY.  How many times have I knew that I knew that God could see my clouded circumstances but it seemed as though He was just going to pass me by without a look?  Jesus said in Mark 6:52 that the reason for my fear in those places is because my heart has a tendency to grow calloused and I lose my power of understanding.  I forget the prior miracles of the multiplication of the bread--All the times He has miraculously fed me.
I love Oswald Chambers' insight into this passage:
"What we call the process, God calls the end....God is not working toward a particular finish; His end is the process--that I see Him walking on the waves, no shore in sight, no success, no goal, just the absolute certainty that it is all right, because I see Him walking on the sea.  It is the PROCESS not the end, that is glorifying to God....unless we can look the darkest, blackest fact, full in the face without damaging God's character, we do not yet know Him....God's end is to enable me to see that He can walk on the chaos of my life right now."