“Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. And after he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray. And when evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land.”
~Mark 6:45-47
This morning, I read these Bible verses. Contextually, Jesus had sent His twelve disciples out to heal people, cast out demons, and encourage individuls to repent. The group- Jesus and His disciples- met back together. Mark 6:31 records Jesus instructing His disciples to go to a desolate place because there were so many people, there wasn’t even time to eat. Moreover, crowds followed Jesus and His disciples and Jesus began teaching them. At that time, there were five thousand men thronging around Jesus; He fed them all.
Finally, the Bible passage takes a turn in verse 45-47, which you read at the beginning of this post. Jesus sent his disciples away on a boat, and He sent away the crowds. I can only imagine Him feeling exhausted and desparately needing rest. What does He do to find His rest? He gets alone… to pray and spend time with God.
When I am exhuasted, I desire television, pizza or takeout, and a bowl of ice cream, all while lying in a blanket on the couch. It seems to me that Jesus understands this desire, but the record of His actions prompt us all to think about where we turn for rest.
When I read this verse this morning, I pondered this, and I have decided that I want to be a woman of prayer and find my rest first and foremost in God just like Jesus did. Romans 12:12 says, “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” Let this idea of spending time with God and being constant in prayer when we need rest spur us unto a closer relationship with Him. With that, let me end this post with a call to action- When you get home after a busy day, take ten minutes in a solitary place before you do anything else to read a Bible verse, spend some time in prayer… I’ll try to do the same, and maybe this blog post will have a sequel.;) I hope that these few thoughts from my morning Bible reading have encouraged you to find your rest in God before you enjoy some of His blessings such as tv, pizza, ice cream, and the couch!
P.S. If you want a great Bible study resource to help you understand the Bible better, I recommend the Hebrew-Greek Keyword Study Bible. I got this Bible almost two years ago. It contains helpful insights into the original Hebrew Greek words used in certain passages, as well as a dictionary of many Hebrew or Greek words from which our Bibles have been translated. This gives tremendous insight into understanding Scripture as it was written in the divinely-inspired original Hebrew-Greek manuscripts. Check it out here: Hebrew-Greek Study Bible (ESV)
