Jump Start # 3858
Mark 6:48 “Seeing them straining at the oars, for the wind was against them, at about the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea; and He intended to pass by them.”
Our recent VBS focused on water. “Through the Water,” was theme. One of the lessons was Jesus walking on the water, where our verse is taken from. There are layers of great lessons in that story. Only Matthew tells us of Peter walking on water. Here in our verse, Jesus finds the apostles “straining at the oars, for the wind was against them.” The NAS footnotes this with, “harassed in rowing.”
Others word this:
Phillips: straining at the oars
KJV: toiling in rowing
ESV: making headway painfully
CEB: struggling
In that boat were seasoned fishermen like Peter, James and John. They understood winds, water and oars. Matthew would likely have to be told what to do. Harassed in rowing, what a great expression for us and what a great reminder for us.
Even when we have tried our hardest, we still need Jesus. These men didn’t quit easily. They were struggling. They were toiling. They were painfully trying to make it forward. The wind was against them. The wind was stopping their progress. The wind wasn’t favorable to them. The wind was their enemy. As experienced as some of them were, they needed Jesus. As many times as they had been there before, they needed Jesus.
You and I are not rowing against the wind in a sea late in the night. Yet, we are struggling with temptation, family rejection, fitting in, worry, keeping a marriage alive, raising kids, stress and troubles. We are trying our best. We are straining at the oars. We are toiling hard. Painfully, we are trying to reach the other side. And, through this, we feel tired and weary. We feel that we can’t go on any longer. We’ve tried our best but we are just about at the end of our strength. That’s how the apostles must have felt. And, when we have given our all, we still need Jesus.
Learn from this that:
First, there are some troubles and problems that are greater than us. We can’t see the end of the story. We don’t know how things will turn out. Grandparents facing the issue of having to raise grandchildren and great grandchildren because of a break down in dysfunctional homes. Having to put your mate into assisted living because you can no longer care for him.
Could this be the reason that Peter says to cast all your burdens upon the Lord because He cares for you. There are things we simply cannot fix. There are things beyond us. There are times when we do not know which path to take.
Even when we have tried our hardest, we still need Jesus.
Second, we are limited with what we can do. Jesus is not. Mark tells us when Jesus got into the boat, the wind stopped. Just like that. Peter couldn’t stop the wind. In John’s account the boat was “immediately” at the land. Yet, Matthew tells us that they were “a long distance from the land.” How did that happen? Jesus. The wind stops and the boat is at the shore. Just like that. God has power over time and abundant resources that we will never understand.
So often, we strain, struggle and try so hard, when we need to open up God’s word and get the help from the Lord. We want to solve our own problems. We want to fix what we have broken. But, we are limited. God is not. The greatest area of this is our salvation. We try to be good, but we can’t be good enough. We apologize but the stain of sin remains. We busy ourselves with good deeds, but they will not erase what has been done. We need the cleansing blood of Jesus. Only He will save us.
Third, this world can be a problem. Winds are contrary. Storms pop up. Things do not go well. People disappoint. Some let you down. We break promises. Some lie. Some deceive. Some take advantage. And, here we are sailing through these turbulent waters. It is hard. Some want to become like the environment around them and by doing so they no longer are letting their light shine. Others know that is not the right course of action. They keep rowing, but the realize with the Lord near by, all will be fine.
Trust and hope in the Lord helps us when we have tried our best and we still are not getting anywhere. It’s then that we realize the Lord’s way works. We lay aside our old self and put on a new heart, constructed by the love of the Lord. A new outlook forms. A better attitude takes shape. A purpose that makes sense drives us. Openly, we confess that were it not for the Lord, we wouldn’t be anything. Without the Lord, we would have sunk long ago. It’s the Lord that gets the credit. It’s the Lord that makes the difference.
Harassed by the winds, Jesus comes walking to us.
Roger