Painfully Making Headway

Yesterday was a beautiful, breezy and cool Fall Saturday. A great day for outdoor chores. At least I thought so. Young Prince Will, not so much. Anything other than playing Mario is a “not so much”. But he relented and I put him to the task of sweeping leaves off the driveway. I tackled cleaning the grill. A summer filled with slopping sauces and marinades over dead animals (as my daughter Shelby would say) had rendered my grill to a condition nasty enough to even bother me.

After a few minutes of sweeping leaves, Will uttered in frustration, “This wind is messing me up!” Indeed it was. I don’t think he swept one leaf off the driveway that didn’t blow back on. But at least he was outside with me learning to appreciate the joys of manual labor. And his comment reminded me of a Scripture that recently resonated with me.

The disciples were out at sea in rough waters and Jesus wasn’t with them. He was resting on land. The first part of Mark 6:48 says, “And he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them…” I have some areas in my life that I am making headway painfully. You do, too. The winds of circumstance, consequence, and maybe even perspective are working against us. We are struggling and at times we want to quit. Our bills are too much; debt too high, marriages too hard and jobs (if you are blessed to have one) may be too difficult.

The remaining part of Mark 6:48 should encourage us. “And about the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea.” There are many Scriptures that say if we call out to Jesus, He will help us and I’ve personally proven it true many times. But this verse doesn’t say anything about the disciples crying out for help. It just says that Jesus saw them and He came to them.

Jesus sees us too. As His disciple, He is watching us. Our struggles are not a surprise to Him. We haven’t caught him off guard. I think He’s watching to see if we will make headway, even when it’s painful…if we will be faithful, persevere and trust Him.

And when we think we can’t strain one more time at the oars, He will walk on water to rescue us.