Leaving the crowd behind...

Jesus is offering an invitation in Mark 4 to the disciples to leave the crowd behind and join him in the boat.  I was studying this passage yesterday and several things struck my attention and got me to thinking.  I want to share them with you and get your thoughts as well.

First, Jesus ask the disciples to leave the crowd behind to go over to the other side.  Don't you think He is asking them to be with him and not everyone else?  Jesus is inviting each of us to the same thing ~ a relationship with Him.  He wants each of us individually and sometimes that scares us just like the storm that surrounded them.  We know Jesus wants to truly know us.  In a crowd we think we might be less noticeable, less obvious with things that might need attention so we are being vulnerable to get in the boat with Jesus.

Second, in the NIV version these words are found in verse 36: Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along just as he was in the boat.    The words just as he was caught my attention.  What does this mean to you?  Do we accept God for who He truly is?  Do we understand when He doesn't answer our prayers the way we expect?  Do we understand when His ways aren't our ways?  Do we accept His ways when His answers are not our desires?  It really got my mind rolling.  Here the disciples are in this boat with Jesus a storm rolls in and they take Jesus just as He is and within moments they forget who He is…fear fills them up.  

Third point is do we trust Jesus in the storm or forget who He is and jump ship?  How often do we forget who we daily spout we believe in to immediately allow the ground to shake around us?  Do we stay beside Jesus in the boat perhaps curled up in the crook of His arm knowing in our hearts that His way is best or do we stand beside Him shouting the same words the disciples shout Don't you care?  Do you see me Jesus?  

I have to admit I've responded both ways.  At times depending on where I truly am in my walk with Jesus I either climbed up in the curve of His arm knowing His way is best and other times I stood almost demanding answers for why this is happening to me.  Not a pretty picture, but the picture is one where I've distanced myself from Jesus and stayed with the crowd.  I know the closer I am to Jesus the peace, but the further I hide in a crowd the further away I am.  What about you?

Are you willing to leave the crowd behind in the coming year to climb over the side of the boat to a closer relationship with Jesus?  I hope you climb over for a great adventure!  If not, point 4 from the reading that The Spirit left me with was He still stopped the storm even though they weren't where they needed to be…So Jesus may be upset and frustrated with us not realizing what we have with us, but He doesn't give up on us!

Sweet blessings,

Debbie