I had the absolute privilege of being the speaker at our local PWOC Christmas Program this morning. I thought I would share it with you for this week's blog entry. I had 20 minutes to talk, so while it won't take you that long to read it, it is a longer blog post than usual.

The decorations emphasized simplicity and humility, in keeping with Jesus' first coming. The tables were covered in brown paper with the figures of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus at the center of each table with raffia around the figures and one candle at each end of this centerpiece. A wooden manger with a royal scepter laying in it was near the front of the room.

I have NEVER done something like this. I have given short devotional messages, but never something this long. These are my speaking notes, so it is not exactly what I said, but close enough:

Carlisle Barracks PWOC Christmas Program Talk

10 December 2009, Susan van Bebber

Comment on Decorations – Not what one would expect

When you first walked in the door, what did you think of our decorations?

They certainly are different from past Christmas programs.

What we consider to be humble circumstances is based on our perceptions of what is humble and what is lofty and praise-worthy.

The juxtaposition of a royal scepter in a manger may seem strange at first.

If this were a real manger in a real stable, we might want to remove the scepter to a more appropriate place, like a museum where it could stay clean and presentable, and be admired behind glass.

Our God chose to become human, being born as a baby and lying in a manger.

That baby was the King of kings and Lord of lords; Mighty God; Eternal Father; the Prince of Peace.

He was God's scepter extending to us—our way to come to the Father—our access into the presence of God.

Now I would like to talk to you about how various people in Jesus' time received Him.

The Jewish religious leaders did not recognize their Messiah, because He was not what they expected.

Isaiah 9:6-7 says,

For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;

And the government will rest on His shoulders;

And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace,
On the throne of David and over his kingdom,
To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness
From then on and forevermore….

This prophecy joins the birth of Messiah with the establishment of an earthly kingdom, without mentioning the lapse of time that would occur between them.

In Luke 4, Jesus read from the scroll of Isaiah in a synagogue in Nazareth.

He read Isaiah 61:1-2, but stopped midway in verse 2 with the clause "to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

That was where the description of his ministry during His first coming ended.

The next clause reads, "…and the day of vengeance of our God," which clearly refers to what will take place during His second coming.

Besides the confusion of time compression, some of the prophecies seem to conflict with each other if one does not understand that Christ would be coming two different times.

There are prophecies, like in Isaiah chapter 53, that describe in great detail the Messiah as a suffering servant.

But the Jewish people, while under a nominally Jewish king, felt the oppression of Rome.

Some Jews believed that the Roman presence in their land was defilement of the land.

They wanted a King and Savior who would cast off the Roman authority.

So those prophecies that focused on Messiah setting up an earthly kingdom and taking vengeance on His enemies are the ones they chose to focus upon.

Wise Men

Read Matt. 2:1-12

We do not know exactly where they had come from, but it must have been from quite a distance.

We don't know how many magi came. The idea of three men comes from the number of gifts they gave.

We do know that they were experts in what was then considered the science of astrology.

They saw a star appear over Palestine while they were in the east, which they interpreted as announcing the birth of a king.

Perhaps they had heard that the Jews believed their Messiah would one day rule the whole earth.

Perhaps they even understood that this Messiah was also divine, since their purpose was to worship Him.

Whatever the reason, it propelled them to make the journey to worship him.

But while they could interpret the appearance of a star as signaling the birth of a king, they did not know exactly where to go

If you are going to find a king, you might expect him to be in the capital.

You might also think He could be found among the sons of the current king, Herod the Great.

So they went to the capital city, Jerusalem.

They came to Herod the Great and asked him where they might find this recently-born King of the Jews.

The Bible said that when Herod heard this, he was "troubled."

This wasn't done in secret, since verse 3 says all of Jerusalem was troubled along with him.

So Herod brought all the Jews who knew the Scriptures, the scribes and priests, and asked them where the Messiah was to be born.

In answer, they quote scripture from Micah 5:2 that says that the Messiah will be born in Bethlehem.

After Herod found out where, he secretly sent for the magi and found out when the star had appeared.

Then he sent them to Bethlehem after telling them to report back to him what they found there.

He lied and said it was because he also wanted to worship Him.

The star then began to lead them to Bethlehem, to the very house where Joseph, Mary, and Jesus were staying.

My translation of verse 10 says that they "rejoiced exceedingly with great joy" when they saw the star. They were really happy!

They were approaching their destination. They were about to see the King they had travelled so far to see.

Do you think they might have been a little surprised to find the King they came to worship living at that ordinary house in a small town?

They bowed down and worshipped Jesus, presenting their gifts to Him.

They did not report back to Herod, however, since God warned them in a dream to return home by another way.

Herod the Great

[Herod is not a personal name, but is a family name.]

He was half-Idumaean (Edom, from the line of Esau, brother of Jacob)

The Idumaeans had come into Palestine over a century earlier, and had embraced the Jewish religion.

The Jews looked down on them as being only "half-Jews."

His father had achieved a fairly high position in the royal household, and then had married into the Jewish royal family.

His father was appointed ruler of Judea by Julius Caesar.

Herod the Great had been made a tetrarch by Mark Antony. Mark Antony then convinced the Roman senate to make Herod a king.

Herod practiced Judaism, at least when he was in Judea.

[However, the historian Josephus wrote that when Herod the Great became ruler, he had the entire Sanhedran, the high Jewish council of justice, put to death.

He then filled the council with those he had chosen.]

Herod was called Herod the Great mainly due to all his building projects and improvements. He was thoroughly enamored with ostentatious architecture and grand monuments.

Herod rebuilt the temple in Jerusalem
It is suspected that he wanted to apprehend and destroy the priestly genealogies held in the temple in order to destroy the genealogy of the expected Messiah.

He was obviously concerned about loss of power and brutally put to death anyone who threatened his position.

On the merest suspicion of treachery, he had one of his favorite wives put to death, along with two of her brothers.

He also had his son, Antipater, put to death not long before he himself died.

It is no surprise, then, that he would go to such lengths to prevent another king from taking power—even an infant king.

He would do anything to retain power.

When he realized that the magi were not going to report back to him, verse 16 says he became "very enraged."

Using the time when the magi had said the star had appeared, he figured out how old the child would have to be.

He ordered all male children, from age two and under be killed. Not only those just in Bethlehem, but all those around in that area.

He was determined not to let anyone take away his power, not even God.

Although they were the first to learn of Jesus' birth, I want to end with the shepherds.

Read Luke 2:7-16

Why did God choose to reveal the glorious birth of His Son to simple shepherds?

Is that what you would have expected?

It certainly surprised the shepherds!

There are perhaps several reasons why God chose shepherds.

In the Old Testament, there are passages that refer to the Jewish religious leaders as shepherds of God's people.

And yet, He didn't choose to announce the birth to those who were supposed to be shepherding His people, but to literal shepherds.

He did not announce it to the important people in Jewish society, but to those who were considered lowly and humble.

Vincent's Word Studies said:

"This revelation to the shepherds acquires additional meaning as we remember that shepherds, as a class, were under the Rabbinic ban, because of their necessary isolation from religious ordinances, and their manner of life, which rendered strict legal observance well-nigh impossible."

I think that this revelation to the shepherds also foreshadows Jesus' teaching about humility and greatness.

That the first shall be last and the last shall be first, and that if you want to be great, in the true sense of greatness, you must become a servant.

And lastly, they were awake! They were watching. They were faithfully doing what they were supposed to be doing while everyone else slept.

How did the shepherds respond?

They were at first terrified of the angel who appeared, and of the glory of the Lord that shone around them.

But the angel reassured them that he was bringing good news.

He explained to them how they could find the baby.

And then a multitude of angels appeared, all praising God.

Can you imagine the light and the sound of the angels?

And when the angels had gone away from them, they hurried to find the baby lying in a manger, wrapped in cloths just as the angel had told them He would be.

And then they told many about what the angels had said about the baby Jesus.

In Conclusion

Jewish Religious Leaders

Even though the Jewish religious leaders knew of scriptures better than any in their day, and they knew of passages that supported the idea of a suffering servant, they would ultimately reject Jesus as their Messiah.

They perceived relief from the Romans as their greatest need, so they were looking for the solution to this problem, not for the solution to their greater need—that of spiritual salvation.

Sometimes God chooses to work on a problem that we don't even recognize as a problem.

I want to remain open to His leading in my life. I don't want to tell Him how I think He should lead.

Wise Men

I find it significant that they were not Jewish. From the start, God intended Jesus to be the bringer of salvation and peace for all people.

He never was just a Messiah for the Jews alone.

In the covenant promises to His chosen people, God promises that they would be a light to the Gentiles.

Isaiah 49:5-6 says of the Servant Messiah,

And now says the LORD, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant,
To bring Jacob back to Him, so that Israel might be gathered to Him
(For I am honored in the sight of the LORD, And My God is My strength),
He says, "It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant
To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel;
I will also make You a light of the nations
So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth."

Although during His earthly ministry, Jesus concentrated on bringing the good news to the Jewish people first, God's plan was always to bring salvation to all people groups.

I also find it interesting that God led the magi to Jesus in a way they would recognize and understand.

He called them from where they were, using a method we might not normally approve of, that is, through their study of astrology.

But it is also very clear that their way of discerning God's message through astrology was insufficient.

They had to come to the Jews, the keepers of God's Word to find out exactly where the King was to be born.

This illustrates the superiority of God's Word in discerning His plan.

We must always ensure that any leading we receive lines up with what He has revealed in His Word.

Herod the Great

He refused to seriously consider worshipping the child that God had clearly shown was the Messiah.

Doing so would have meant giving up all for which he had worked and even murdered.

Herod held onto his power and independence no matter what the cost.

I pray we are not so foolish.

Shepherds

God chose to reveal the glorious birth of His son to lowly shepherds.

They were awake, ready to hear what God had to say.

They immediately responded to God's call.

And once they had seen Jesus, they could not contain their wonder at what had been told them, and they began telling others.

"Expect the Unexpected" might be what I would entitle this talk.

Especially during this time of year, because of all the traditions surrounding Christmas time, we may have a tendency to keep God in a box.

But our God of the Holy Scriptures does not always do things in the way we might expect Him to.

He is greater than what we can conceive, more powerful than what we can imagine, and more creative than what we see in nature around us.

Let's keep our eyes open and expect to see the unexpected ways in which God is working in the lives of those around us, and in our own lives.

I realized I haven't posted one of these in quite a while. This was written on September 1st, shortly before our local PWOC's kick-off for the year:

I first heard about the new PWOC theme for this year late last May at the WILD (Women Intent on Leadership Development) training some of us attended: “Arise, for the Lord extends His scepter.” As I was preparing to present the theme at the kickoff this Thursday, I once again thought about the image of a king, extending his scepter to signify that he was granting permission to approach his throne. Since I learned of the theme, I have wondered why the story of Esther is not mentioned in the theme explanation. The king extended his scepter to Esther when she had approached him uninvited, risking death. But instead of ordering her execution, he welcomed her into his presence, asking what she would like him to do for her. (Esther 5:1-3) In the same way, Jesus paid the price for our sins, granting us “entry” into the presence of God when we entered into a personal relationship with Him.

Today I realized that while the story of Esther shows how a scepter was used by kings to grant access, it is not a very good illustration of how God similarly grants us access into His presence. In the story of Esther, after her first approach she once again risked death to speak to the king uninvited, and once again, the king extended his scepter. (Esther 7:3-4) While the scepter in our theme does represent God’s favor and His granting of access into His presence, it is not an invitation we must continually seek, risking death if He should choose to reject us. He has accepted us once for all because of His Son. We have a permanent invitation into His presence, because we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ. We do not have to come to Him in fear, trying to make ourselves “good enough” each time we approach Him. Jesus paid the price in full. He is our access.

Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need. Heb. 4:16

Written August 18th:

Since I have finished Mark, and have moved into Luke in my slow walk through the gospels, I read about Zacharias this morning. The Bible says that he and his wife, Elizabeth, were both righteous in the sight of God, but that they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren. It adds that they were both advanced in years, implying that having children at this point in their lives was an impossibility.

Zacharias was in the temple performing his priestly duties at that time. The priesthood was divided into divisions, and his division, that of Abijah, was slated to serve that week. He had been chosen by lot (by “chance”) to enter the temple and burn incense to the Lord. This was, according to one commentary, perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The incense was burned on an alter made for this purpose that was in front of the veil dividing the holy place from the holy of holies, where the ark of the covenant had been kept (Exodus 30:1-8). As he offered incense on this altar, there was a large crowd of people outside offering up prayer. The incense represented the prayers of God’s people rising up to Him.

So, Zacharias was in the holy place offering incense to the Lord, when Gabriel appeared to the right of the altar. He then delivered his message:

But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John." Luke 1:13

The commentaries pointed out that since they were “advanced in years,” Zacharias had probably long since stopped praying for children. This is born out by his subsequent expression of disbelief (Luke 1:18-20). The angel reminds Zacharias that his timing is not God’s timing when he says, “…you did not believe my words, which shall be fulfilled in their proper time.”

Zacharias’ prayers were heard. They were not discarded, misplaced, or forgotten. They were heard and answered. God is not bound by linear time like we are. I believe He is the Creator of time. When He hears our prayers, He answers them. And to us, it may seem like His answer comes years later, and that He has held it back from us for all that time, but to Him, He had already answered our prayers. Sometimes I tend to think that prayers I had prayed years ago have no bearing on today or the years ahead. But God has not forgotten them, even if I have.

I have been posting these in the order I had written them each week this past summer, but the two that are next in line were both short, so I am posting them together.

Written August 4th:

I have left the writing of announcements this week until too late. So I will just share an interesting fact I learned from one of the commentaries I have been using as I move slowly through Mark.

Judas Iscariot agreed to receive 30 pieces (or temple shekels) of silver to betray Jesus to the chief priests. (The commentary stated the worth as $21.60 at the time it was written, in 1886. In today’s money, that would be about $500.) From Exodus 21:32, this was the compensation to be paid if an ox were to kill someone’s servant or slave. So any servant or slave was legally, under Jewish law, worth 30 pieces of silver. The commentary (Vincent’s Word Studies) says,

Our Lord, the sacrifice for men, was paid for out of the temple-money, destined for the purchase of sacrifices. He who “took on him the form of a servant” was sold at the legal price of a slave.

Written August 11th:

Yesterday I was thinking about the robber who was being crucified next to Jesus, who said to Him, “Remember me when You come in Your kingdom!” Jesus promised him that he would be together with Him in Paradise.

I guess in a way, I had looked down my nose at this character, who, although his faith was genuine, seemed to have wasted his entire life up to that point. (Am I similar to those laborers who had worked the entire day, but received the same wage as those who only worked an hour described in the parable in Matt. 20:1-16?) I had never thought about the fact that actually, he had enormous faith. The Life Application Study Bible says that he had “more faith than the rest of Jesus' followers put together.” They had scattered in fear and confusion, since Jesus had not set up His earthly kingdom as they had expected. But this man, despite the dire appearance of Jesus’ circumstances, believed that He yet had a kingdom.

I am very thankful that this incident was included in one of the accounts of Christ’s crucifixion (Luke 23:39-43). Otherwise, we might doubt the salvation of those who turn in faith to Jesus to save them at the last minute. Truly, salvation is by faith alone, through God’s grace. The robber on the cross is our assurance of this fact.

This was written on July 28th:

This morning I chose to skip my quiet time in God’s Word and in prayer. That would not have been anything to note earlier this year. But for the past few months, since mid-April, I have kept a consistent quiet time, only forgetting perhaps once or twice. It may sound like I am boasting, but I don’t think so. I am just amazed that I have become so consistent. For years and years, since I first understood the importance of having daily time with God, I have sought to be consistent. It seemed like nine out of ten times, my application for any given Bible study would be that I needed to establish a consistent quiet time. And for a few days, perhaps even a few weeks at a time, I would succeed. But invariably, I would falter, and spend days, weeks, maybe even months without opening up His Word on my own.

What has made the difference?

I know one thing is true above all other reasons. Now I feel like I really, really need Him. I need His strength, His wisdom, His comfort, His assurance and His guidance. I need to spend time in His Word, absorbing His truth to defend against lies that might creep into my thoughts and attitudes. I need to trust Him more, as I walk through daily life.

We all need him, whether we realize it or not. I needed Him just as much before I accepted my role as president of PWOC here at Carlisle Barracks. I just didn’t feel like I needed him as much.

But in John 15:5 Jesus says, “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”

And in Psalm 127:1 it says, “Unless the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain.”

The really great thing about today is that, unlike in the past, where I would have gone through the rest of my day never giving another thought to the fact that I had missed out on my morning quiet time, today I spent a few minutes this afternoon in God’s Word because I wanted to. The more time I spend in His Word, the more I want to be in His Word. How cool is that?!

If you aren’t having regular quiet time with God, ask Him why you don’t spend time with Him regularly and watch and listen for His answer.

Suggestions I have added today in October:
Ask Him to give you a desire for His word and for time with Him. Look for "found time" in your schedule that you may be able to use regularly for time with God. You might also want to become accountable to another person so that you might be more likely to take the time to meet with Him. Consider using a devotional guide as well, although I wouldn't recommend using it as a complete replacement to spending good time in His Word. A good devotional book can help you get started in forming a "holy habit," though, and can get you out of the doldrums when you don't know where to go next.

This was written this past summer on July 21st:

A couple of verses I read yesterday in Mark fit right in with CH Carter’s sermon on Sunday ("What is Fellowship?"). Jesus was responding to a question about the greatest commandment:

Jesus answered, "The foremost is, 'Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all you heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these." Mark 12:29-31

CH Carter’s sermon was taken from Phil 2:1-4:

Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

CH Carter spoke of the two aspects of fellowship, the vertical and the horizontal, that is, our fellowship with God and our fellowship with others. These are exactly the dimensions addressed by Jesus in the verses in Mark: we are to love God with everything that is within us, and we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. CH Carter’s sermon also touched on unity, which brought another passage to mind:

Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Ephesians 4:1-3

Is this kind of love and fellowship difficult? Well, unless it is empowered by the Holy Spirit, it is impossible. We do not naturally do this. We naturally care more for ourselves than others, and do not consider their needs more important than our own. But if we are His children, we have the Holy Spirit living within us, and it is His unity that we are preserving. We love God because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). We can then love others because we are secure in His love, and His Holy Spirit enables us to love as we ought to.

For myself, it is sometimes very difficult to get past “myself” and love as I should. We all need God’s empowerment to love each other and preserve His unity. Otherwise, our service and hospitality are of no real eternal value (1 Cor. 13). But thankfully, He DOES empower us to love as He desires. And His grace covers us in those situations where we don’t love, enabling us to confess when we fail and forgive those who have failed us.

He truly has given us everything we need.

I wrote this short note on July 14th:

Yesterday morning, as part of my journey through Mark, I landed on the passage Mark 11:20-26. I spent some time thinking about verse 23:

Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, "Be taken up and cast into the sea," and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him.

I found the comment from the Life Application Study Bible on the parallel verse Matthew 21:21 to be very interesting:

Many have wondered about Jesus' statement that if we have faith and don't doubt, we can move mountains. Jesus, of course, was not suggesting that his followers use prayer as "magic" and perform capricious "mountain moving" acts. Instead, he was making a strong point about the disciples' (and our) lack of faith. What kinds of mountains do you face? Have you talked to God about them? How strong is your faith?

Do you have a “mountain” in your life? Is there something about which you lack faith—something that you find impossible to believe that God could or would change? Perhaps you don’t even bother to pray about your mountain, for lack of faith. Ask God to enlarge your faith, and begin to pray.

Maybe you don’t even realize you have a mountain. You may have simply accepted a situation as it is, without even considering the need to pray about it. Ask God to reveal these areas as well.

“Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21 NASB

I have been posting what I had written in order, but this week I'm posting something that I wrote last month on September 22nd, since it has to do with an event that occurred at this time last year:

Today I set aside my walk through the gospels to look at the following verse:

Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ Galatians 4:6

I like this verse for several reasons. It mentions all three Persons of the Trinity, which I think is cool. It also echoes Mark 14:36, where Jesus is praying to His Father in the Garden of Gethsemane before He was betrayed and crucified for us. Addressing God as “Abba! Father!” came from His agony in prayer, from the depths of his being, since a couple of verses before, He says: “My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death….” Galatians 4:6 says that God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, giving us permission and encouraging us to address Him as Father in the same way.

The word “crying” (krazo in Greek) in Galatians 4:6 is a strong, deeply emotional way of saying something. It was originally used of crying out with a screaming, croaking, inarticulate sound, but came to also include strong, emotional exclamations, as well as more dignified prophetic utterances.* This is a very personal and deeply emotional way of addressing God as our Father.

I recently answered a question as part of a “get to know you” questionnaire. The question was, “What is your favorite word for God/Jesus/Holy Spirit at this time in your life?” I had no hesitation when I answered that my favorite way of thinking about God was “Father,” specifically as “Abba, Father.” I am coming up on the one-year anniversary of my father’s death from cancer (10/9/08), and have been thinking about him quite a bit and missing him tremendously.

A number of us have lost parents over the past year. I found out this morning that a friend’s father passed away Saturday night. It shakes us to the core of our being when we lose a parent, even if perhaps that parent had been a less-than-stellar father or mother. It seems as if parents ought to be here for us for our entire lives. Where do we turn in our sorrow? Besides seeking the comfort of those who have also experienced the death of a parent or loved one, we can throw ourselves in prayer upon the lap of our Father in Heaven. We can cry out to Him as His child from our deepest being, “Abba, Father!” He is our perfect Father, who is taking care of us in our sorrow, and only He truly understands the depths of what we feel. He is near to the brokenhearted. (Psalm 34:18) He assures us that He will never leave us nor forsake us. (Hebrews 13:5) And He grants us an underlying peace and even joy as we walk through life’s tough times, trusting Him as He enables us. (Philippians 4:7, I Thessalonians 1:6)

I am so thankful that God is my Father.


*From Vincent’s Word Studies, Marvin R. Vincent, D.D.

This was written on June 30, 2009:

The other day, I was looking at the verses in Mark 8:22-26:

And they came to Bethsaida. And they brought a blind man to Jesus and implored Him to touch him. Taking the blind man by the hand, He brought him out of the village; and after spitting on his eyes and laying His hands on him, He asked him, "Do you see anything?" And he looked up and said, "I see men, for I see them like trees, walking around." Then again He laid His hands on his eyes; and he looked intently and was restored, and began to see everything clearly. And He sent him to his home, saying, "Do not even enter the village."

One of the commentaries I have loaded in my Bible study software pointed out that Bethsaida, while being the hometown of Andrew, Peter, and Philip, was included in the Jesus’ list of towns (in Matthew 11:21) that had not repented after seeing His miracles (the feeding of the five thousand had taken place nearby—Luke 9:10-17) Perhaps that is why Jesus led the man out of the village. He would not allow them the privilege of seeing yet another miracle performed in their town.

Two things about this passage struck me. The first was that the man’s friends had brought him to Jesus. They were the ones that asked Jesus to heal him. It seems as if the man didn’t have faith of his own. And then, Jesus did not heal him all at once. Can you imagine the blind man’s building excitement when he began to see moving shapes? If he had begun with no faith, it surely must have grown substantially at this point! Jesus knew exactly what this man needed to experience. The second thing that struck me was that Jesus seems to have come to Bethsaida this time only to do this one miracle. He came to Bethsaida, healed the man, and then left for Caesarea Philippi.

Jesus comes to us as individuals, knowing what each of us needs to believe and trust in Him. Sometimes we do not have the necessary faith of our own to start with, but friends can come to Jesus on our behalf, and God honors their faith, building up our faith and trust in the meantime.

Beginning in May, I decided to read through all of the gospels, and out of that came these thoughts, which were written June 22nd:

After finishing my walk through Matthew, I have continued to read a few verses from Mark every day. A couple verses from the passage Mark 6:45-52 really struck me the other day.

The disciples had just witnessed the feeding of five thousand men (in addition to the women and children who were also present) late in the day. After everyone had eaten, Jesus compelled his disciples to go back across the lake while He sent the crowds away. Then Jesus went up on the mountain to pray. While He was by Himself, around three o’clock in the morning, Jesus saw that they were toiling and straining against the wind with their oars. They had been out there for around 6-9 hours. When He came to them, walking on the water, they thought they were seeing a ghost, and were terrified. He reassured them, that they need not be afraid, for it was He, Himself.

“Then He got into the boat with them, and the wind stopped; and they were utterly astonished, for they had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but their heart was hardened.” Mark 6:51-52

Jesus could have calmed the winds while He was still on the mountain. But He chose to come to them, and to calm the wind as He joined them in the boat. Help came to them in a very unexpected way. They did not see Him as their rescuer at first, thinking He was a ghost.

I’m sure that as they spent so much time with Jesus, their assumptions about who He was and what His mission was were constantly being revised. At this point, their heart was hardened by what their expectations were. They had not yet considered the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand deeply enough to understand its implications.

The wind stopped when Jesus got into the boat with them. There is no greater place of safety than being where God is, regardless of our circumstances. And with the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, we are always in the greatest place of safety.

Sometimes we have to wait for God’s perfect timing, and His deliverance comes in a way we don’t expect. While I may be amazed at what God does in my life and in the lives of others, I do not want to be “utterly astonished” because of the hardness of my heart—because I have not deeply considered His previous miracles, both in His Word and in our lives. I want to fully trust that He will help in His perfect timing, in His perfect way.