Scripture
Mark 4:3,14,35-“Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed"... "The farmer sows the word"... "That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, 'Let us go over to the other side.'”
Observation
At the beginning of chapter 4, Jesus is telling the multitudes a parable of a farmer sowing seeds. In this parable, Jesus is the farmer, and the seeds He is sowing are the Word of God. Then, at the end of chapter 4, Jesus comes back to this parable and says, He tells His disciples, “Let us cross over to the other side.” They are in transition. In our lives, we all go through changes, through transitions. Life is like one big transition and we all go through changes (good and bad) and transitions in our lives.
Jesus, in essence, says to His disciples, “Let’s transition from this place to another place.” In the middle of their transition, they hit a great windstorm, and they start to panic. The disciples are looking for Jesus and they can’t find Him. They finally locate Jesus, and He is asleep. They wake Him up and say, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”
Here’s the point: You ever find yourself going through a transition or experiencing a change in your life and it feels like you’ve hit a category 5 hurricane or storm. You start calling out and crying out to Jesus, and He is nowhere to be found? Where is Jesus when you need Him?
Back to the parable! The disciples finally locate Jesus, wake Him up, and Jesus calms the storm. Only Jesus can do this (bring peace and wholeness in a difficult time), calm the storm. But then Jesus turns to His disciples and says, “How is it that you have no faith?”
Application
When we’re in the middle of a difficult transition, a storm, and we’re experiencing a change (like this Pandemic), unlike anything we've ever experienced before. And you are calling out and crying out to Jesus, and it feels like He is not responding - remember this. He already sowed the seeds inside of you and me (Mark 4:14). Jesus sowed in us His Words and the Word Of God. It’s inside of us. Jesus is saying to you and to me, “That’s enough to get you to the other side.”
You and I have enough of God’s Word sowed in us to handle any storm, any transition, and change that will shake our lives. When things are absolutely so bad that it looks like you may perish. Go back to the Word of God - it’s enough to get you to the other side.
Prayer
Father help me always remember to go back to You and Your Word to save me. If Jesus is on the other side, then God Bless me - I’m going to the other side. If God’s Word is in me - then I’m fearless and hopeful to take a hold of Jesus' hand to walk me to the other side. Transitioning. Amen.
