THE SEA OF GALILEE

The Sea of Galilee

THE SEA OF GALILEE Learning the Same Things Again

THE SEA OF GALILEE gave stage to more miracles around its shores than did any other place in Jesus' three-and-a-half-year ministry. To the east and west of the lake, massive hills tower above the waves. When cool air makes its way down to the Sea of Galilee, the resulting winds can whip up the water into a furious squall.

This is the situation the disciples found themselves in as they struggled against their oars in a small boat on the waves. When Jesus walked to them on the water, they thought He was a ghost! But He reassured them, entered the boat with them, and to their astonishment calmed the storm. As this point in the story, Mark mentions something that seems strange: "They still didn't understand the significance of the miracle of the loaves. Their hearts were too hard to take it in" (Mark 6:52). Not many hours earlier, Jesus had fed more than five thousand hungry people with a few loaves and fish the only miracle recorded in all four Gospels other than the Resurrection.

In both situations, the Lord put His disciples in impossible circumstances. He never intended to create frustration, but rather to teach dependence. In the storm on the lake, they should have remembered their inadequacy with the hungry crowd. They should have remembered Jesus' power to provide.

Is it any different with us? We can relate the loaves to the lake and connect what we learn about God's faithfulness in one area of life to all other areas. Whatever our impossible situations are, the answer remains the same: We will only experience the power of God if we continually bring our inadequacies to Jesus and refuse to rely on ourselves. If we have faith, we will wait expectantly for God's power and apply yesterday's lessons to today's impossible situations.