PEACE BE STILL
Today’s Reading: Mark 4
Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion on the right-hand side).
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 Mediterrenean 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 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 water skied on Galilee. 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, there is an “explore” option at the bottom right (if you don’t see it, click on the double “^” symbol). You can scroll through various photos of the area and click on the photos to enlarge them. 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.”
Jesus is peace. I hardly remember a time when life was more frantic, it seems as though terrorist attacks are now weekly if not daily. There seems also be great political shifts in the world as England leaves the EU, opening questions up about the very future of the organization. Great political polarization marks our neighbours to the south. There also seems to be a greater gulf between rich and poor. I could go on and on …. but you know what? Peace is just what the world needs right now and this peace can only be found in Jesus Christ. The world will continue to spin, new characters will take the stage and old problems will continue until either Jesus returns to take us home, or the world takes a massive turn in coming to know Him. We need peace in our lives today. Each of us can know that inner peace by coming to know Jesus personally at this very moment. Peace be still.
I wonder why, in verse 12, where Jesus said that people might understand and accept the message and believe if He didn’t speak in parables. I have never understood that comment. Is that not what He wants for all people – to believe and understand?
Amen Scott, and thanks Pastor David for your words this morning. .Blessings to all, have a good day.
Amen!
Amen, amen and amen.
Thank you for your daily blog- helps keep grounded in the word.
thanks for sharing these pictures, today was great scrolling through various photos.
Peace in the midst of the storm is what we need today personally and in the world and thank God Jesus can give it. Have experienced it over and over and very recently. Love that photo Reynold. Wonderful blog David and Scott.
Yes, love the photo, Reynold!
Amen..great photo Reynold.
His Peace that passes understanding to guard out heart and mind!!
Our growing faith helps us to acquire peace and conquer the storms in life, amen. Blessings fellow saints.
“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” Psalm 46:10 ESV
Lion and the Lamb//Leeland//Have it All
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9ujBoud26k
In reply to your question, Doreen:
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Mark 4:1-20 This parable contained instruction so important, that all capable of hearing were bound to attend to it. There are many things we are concerned to know; and if we understand not the plain truths of the gospel, how shall we learn those more difficult! It will help us to value the privileges we enjoy as disciples of Christ, if we seriously consider the deplorable state of all who have not such privileges. In the great field of the church, the word of God is dispensed to all. Of the many that hear the word of the gospel, but few receive it, so as to bring forth fruit. Many are much affected with the word for the present, who yet receive no abiding benefit. The word does not leave abiding impressions upon the minds of men, because their hearts are not duly disposed to receive it. The devil is very busy about careless hearers, as the fowls of the air go about the seed that lies above ground. Many continue in a barren, false profession, and go down to hell. Impressions that are not deep, will not last. Many do not mind heart-work, without which religion is nothing. Others are hindered from profiting by the word of God, by abundance of the world. And those who have but little of the world, may yet be ruined by indulging the body. God expects and requires fruit from those who enjoy the gospel, a temper of mind and Christian graces daily exercised, Christian duties duly performed. Let us look to the Lord, that by his new-creating grace our hearts may become good ground, and that the good seed of the word may produce in our lives those good words and works which are through Jesus Christ, to the praise and glory of God the Father.
http://biblehub.com/commentaries/mark/4-11.htm
Thank you Beverlee. By the time I got down to the PULPIT COMMENTARY, it was becoming clear to me. Jesus knew some would NOT believe (choice), and others even reviled His teaching. God judges those who are outside of our circle. It’s a Christians versus World situation. Thank you for all the explanations and the time you put into it. That was a lot of effort for you and I much appreciate it. I believe (and have read an article recently), that we need to bind Satan in Jesus Name and command him to leave before praying for salvation for someone who is not seriously interested in salvation. Now I can see that need much more when even Jesus did not try to “persuade” those who were not really interested. Thanks again, sister.
It was nothing, Doreen. All I did was search for it, read it, then copied and pasted the entire section. Bless you!
It was really nothing. I did a search, read it, copied and pasted it and voila, it was there.
Thank you Jesus for demonstrating “peace” by action. The peace that passes understanding that you gave us…to guard our heart and mind.
Mark 4:12 always leaves a question in my mind also. The explanation given here doesn’t fully explain verse 12.
Yes, thinking the same….
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(12) That seeing they may see. . . .—St. Mark characteristically gives the words of Isaiah 6:9, but not as a quotation, and perhaps in a less accurate form, and omits the addition in Matthew, “Blessed are your ears . . .” The form in this instance, at first sight, suggests the thought that our Lord’s purpose was to produce the blindness and deafness of which He speaks. The real meaning of the words is, however, plain. This was to be the result of the willful blindness of those who rejected Him; and the acceptance of a foreseen result was, in Hebrew forms of thought, expressed as the working out of an intention. (See Notes on Matthew 13:14-15.) http://biblehub.com/commentaries/mark/4-12.htm
I am not usually up at this hour but could not sleep due to pain. Here is another one that might make more sense:
Sometimes, when words are read instead of heard, we have to be careful. Inflections in the voice will make the same words mean different things. For example, depending on the inflection, the statement “Oh, I really need this.” could suggest that the statement is sarcastic and actually means the opposite of what the words suggest. That seems to be what Jesus is doing in Mark 4:10-12. If we understand this, it becomes easy to see how it fits with what the rest of the Bible says about the Lord’s desire for all to be saved.
Yes, it seems that our Lord was using a little sarcasm, not to be mean, but to make a point. The quote itself is actually a 700 year old writing from the prophet Isaiah. It had been through Isaiah and other prophets that God repeatedly and patiently called the people to repentance. It had been through a whole series of prophets that the nation had been warned of destruction if they continued in their rebellion (Isaiah 6:8-11). The Lord is saying, “I’ll keep sending prophets to call you back to Me and you just keep on listening and looking, but don’t perceive or understand. Instead, just keep hardening your hearts and closing your eyes and ears so I won’t heal you.” JUST KEEP GOING THE WAY YOU ARE BECAUSE YOU WOULDN’T WANT TO REPENT AND BE SAVED.” That’s how it was meant in Isaiah’s time, and that is how Jesus uses it in His teaching of His disciples.
The reason Jesus taught in parables was to reveal truth to openhearted people, but it would be obscured from closed-minded and prejudiced people. To those that have this openhearted desire to know more about God, more will be given. To those that do not have, even what little they do have will be taken away (Matthew 13:10-12). Those “outside” would be those with prejudiced heart and mind. They had made themselves “outsiders”! The word of God is like a lamp, and we can either be a stand from where the light can show forth and shed light, or we can be a basket and cover it up. So, if we simply read it as if Jesus is using the phrase from Isaiah as Isaiah had used it, we will understand it much easier.
http://www.bible.ca/ef/expository-mark-4-10-12.htm
WOW !!! Thank you Beverlee Kay for such an indepth explanation. It helps to clarify. I’m sorry you were still awake due to pain! Praying you are healed, restored and refreshed in Jesus’ name, AMEN.
Thank you Evanna. God bless you!!
Still missing SAH…..praying she is well….