PEACE BE STILL
Suggested Reading: Mark 4
(click scripture link to read online)
Early morning calm over the Sea of Galilee. This is the view from the modern city of Tiberius looking northeast.
GOOGLE MAPS – See where Reynold took the photo Click HERE.
Key Verse: Mark 4:39
Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.
Peter was there and tells Mark the story, and Mark passes it on to us. Peter was practically raised on the sea, but now he and the others are dumfounded. Jesus is sleeping on the balast pillow below deck. He demonstrates PEACE within Himself in the midst of the storm, then He demonstrates that He is at PEACE with all circumstances. No wonder they ask, “Who can this be that even the wind and the sea obey Him?” (verse 41). This is “100 fold” living. The miracles of Jesus put 100 exclamation points behind His teaching. They say, “Pay close attention.” This encourages us to not only read His Word, but to learn, meditate, write in the margins of our Bibles, and hide His Word, not just in our minds and memories, but in our hearts. “So then FAITH comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God” (Romans 10:17). We decide. Will we be of “no faith” (verse 40) or a growing faith which always produces PEACE in life’s storms?
PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Lord Jesus, grant that I may have Your PEACE. You rested without worry in the storm. But if I should panic, You are there to speak PEACE. Thank You Jesus! Amen!
100 PERSONAL WORDS:
You can click on the link just below the picture of the Sea of Galilee above and see the location of the photo on a Google Map. This body of water is approximately 700 feet below the level of the Meditreanean Sea, which is only about 30 miles away. The wind currents come barrelling down between the mountains, and depending on wind speed and direction, a storm on the water can whip up in no time. On our Holy Land Tours (God willing again this November), we always have a time in the Word aboard a ship on the Sea. These stories of Jesus come fully alive to all of us. One of my favourite Galilee memories is of our sons, who help me in this blog, Reynold and Ron, who water skied on that Sea. When our second daughter was married in Cana to Nizar, seven bus loads of Canadians came with us to celebrate. One of the Israeli guides had a power boat and offered the experience of water skiing. It was the closest thing to walking on the water. Great fun! By the way, there was no storm that day.
Yours to experience the PEACE that Jesus gives and to have fun along the way,
David
P.S. My son Ron informed me that you can access some Google photos of the Galilee area while you are on the Google Map linked above. Here’s what he suggests (I just tried it and it works great!)…
“Within the large Google Map, simply hover your pointer over the small map icon in the top right corner. A menu will drop down and you can select “photos.” Then you will see many small photos appear around the map shot from those locations. Click any one of them to enlarge it. You can also zoom the map out using the zoom slide, which will reveal even more photos from around the Sea of Galilee. The same steps can be taken for all of the map links which are provided in this daily blog.”
It is certainly difficult to “have peace with all circumstances” and to try and understand the meaning of those circumstances. Yet, without faith and knowing the peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard our hearts and our minds in Christ (Phil:4), we might just as well give up and start questioning our existance. Bad things happen to good people. This matter is hard to grapple with in the absence of the peace that can be found within, trusting in God.
“Peace be still!” What wonderful words spoken by our Saviour! Peace in the midst of life’s storms. Peace, in a world which seems to have gone mad. Peace within. Jesus has spoken a promise and this promise can be ours, IF we are willing. I believe that knowing ‘peace’ comes from knowing the Lord and growing in Him … this is true contentment. As we are in relationship with Him, we can know the joy that only His ‘peace’ can bring into our lives. For this reason Paul speaks confidently as he talks of living a ‘content’ life in Christ in Phillipians 4:11-13 (NLT) “Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength.” Paul didn’t let waves of anxiety and circumstance rule his life, rather he learned to ‘live’ in Christ; as a result, Paul’s
peace and contentment grew from his relationship with the Lord and on his resting in Jesus and His promises. Peace be still! This peace can be ours today.
What Jesus did for others, He can do for ALL. . If the care of anything rests upon us, God ceases to be a God of peace, therefore;
“Bear not a single care thyself”,
One is too much for thee.
The work is mine, and mine alone.
And thine is-“TRUST IN ME.”
“God’s faithful Love abides forever!”
Thank you Jesus…
David have a wonderful day and weekend…
as we journey this road together…..heading home
as always
Diane….
David
My prayer is the same as yours
Lianne Hogg
I think many times a situation or circumstance can cause us to react in an ‘not resting in His peace’ way and it takes a deliberate act of surrender and will to get back into that place of peace only He can give. How wonderful He waits quietly and patiently for us to quit trying to ‘fix’ things in our own wisdom, and turn to Him, and allow Him to work all things out for our good and His Glory.
Thy will be done Lord!
As an aside: I like to read scripture aloud to myself…then I not only ‘see’ but ‘hear’ as well and this helps me to slow down, savor, and grasp what is being said.
Blessing David on you and yours, today and the days ahead. Thank you for this daily blog!! What a blessing and source of encouragement!
Thankyou !