The Other Side

THE OTHER SIDE

Jesus had been with his disciples caring for the multitudes and had just miraculously fed five thousand people with the five loaves and the fishes. It had been a tiring day and so instead of going back to Capernaum with His disciples in the boat, he told them to go ahead (Mark 6:42) while he went up on a mountain to pray.

John 6:15 … Jesus went up to the mountain alone by Himself, and when it began to get dark, the disciples went down to the sea and began to row their boat toward Capernaum, but soon a gale swept down upon them as they rowed, and the sea grew very rough and it was now dark. They were three or four miles out when suddenly they saw Jesus walking toward the boat! They were terrified, but he called out to them and said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” Then they willingly received Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the other side. 

This story describes some of the faith principles of how we work together in partnership with Jesus as the disciples did. They had faithfully done their part in the miracle of the multiplication of the food, in handing out the loaves and fishes and they had trusted Jesus to do his supernatural part. 
Jesus had been teaching the multitudes and his disciples had been feeding and caring for them and having completed that day’s work there was more work for them to do the next day across the sea of Galilee where another crowd would be waiting for Jesus. They would usually travel together across the water to Capernaum, but this particular time Jesus told them to row across without him so that he could rest and pray to his Father.

They would never have guessed that the experience of rowing across the Sea of Galilee would work out the amazing way that it did. They were seasoned rowers but rowing is tough work and involves the uncertainty of rowing forward in one direction while you are actually looking backwards in another direction. It would have been particularly tough for those disciples because there was a raging storm and darkness and they were fearful that Jesus was not with them, but the disciples kept on rowing. Suddenly Jesus came to them in a supernatural way walking on the water, and they thought he was a ghost, but when he told them it was he, they willingly let him into the boat and the boat was miraculously transported to the other side.

When we think about it, that’s the way we move forward in life anyway, rowing forward in one direction while we are actually looking backwards in another direction. We can only go ahead in life with the things that belong in the package of our past, the good and the bad, the successes and the failures and the lessons learned and the faith gained. We can’t guess the future but we can have a goal – and that is the ‘other side’ which contains the uncertainties and the challenge and the effort. Our real faith is the reality of knowing that trusting God that in our obedient rowing forward while also looking backwards will be met with Jesus supernaturally coming into the boat. He gets us to the ‘other side’ in every situation if we are truly living by faith. Our times are in his hands. 

We have the same natural uncertainty as those disciples about how things will work out as we try to move forward in times of storms of darkness and difficulty, and that is when we call upon the faith that is being considered in this story. Faith means we are never certain about the future but we are certain that God has it all in hand and is acting supernaturally for good on our behalf.
We do the natural and God does the supernatural and it is beyond our understanding how the working together with God plays out, other than we have faith that he alone knows the end from the beginning and always shows up and is never late.
That is how faith works – we remain faithful to yield obediently to what Holy Spirit prompts us to do then we trust Jesus to complete his perfect work. That is our obedience of faith (Romans 16:26).
The Bible tells us that he wants to help us be willing do what is the good thing to do, and he helps us in the doing;
Philippians 2:12 … you must be even more careful to do the good things that result from being saved, obeying God with deep reverence, shrinking back from all that might displease him. For God is at work within you, helping your willingness to obey him, and then helping you do what is his desire for you.

Often because of our limited understanding of what God wants us to do, the doing can become problematic because we might try too hard to do things in our own strength and feel we can push through, and it may not be what God wants but we do it anyway and we find out later that we got it wrong. We did what we thought was a good thing but it was not a ‘God’ thing.
On the other hand, we may not try enough, and fail to do the responsible good thing out of ignorance or carelessness or apprehension - but God sees the heart and can override our human failure, and we learn to trust in his mercy and we get to learn of his ways.
Staying with the metaphor of rowing across a lake, we can ask the question ‘Why wasn’t the journey of the disciples on a placid lake with a moonlit sky and no wind, and all having a singalong? Well, day to day to life is not very often like that, and that day wasn’t like that for them. They were hardy rowers but on that night things were scary and they were full of apprehension, as it is so often with us, but they kept rowing

And as we obediently keep rowing forward, I believe that we do not always have to be looking backwards, but rather we can be looking upwards, knowing that Jesus is on the mountain, praying and cheering us on from Heaven, and he will come to us as we seek Him in the midst of storms and darkness, and get us to the other side. 
Philippians 3:13 But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward Heavenly call (invitation, welcome) of God in Christ Jesus.

And God is going to get us there. I believe we are currently in critical times of being taken forward in the purposes of God, and we are deeply aware that we are going through storms and sometimes darkness, and many are wondering when Jesus will come to them. He is actually always with us, but he wants to open our eyes of faith and show us that he is in the boat and replaces our rowing with his supernatural completion of the journey. 

Jesus has a special here and now journey for every one of us in our current circumstances. He has destined us to get to 'the other side', to the place where we are meant to be going, that is, the spiritual and circumstantial goal he has for us in any particular season in our lives. He is watching over us. He is not complaining about how badly we may be rowing even if we are, so we keep on rowing, because if we stop rowing, we drift.

There are many ‘Other sides’ in our day to day experience that God wants to get us to and they all involve us faithfully doing our part while he supernaturally works his part.
The other side of the challenge of what is required of us that faces us today in our circumstances.
The other side of something that has been delayed or put off because it is difficult.
The other side of our management of a tiring physical struggle of illness or recovery from illness.
The other side of this current global pandemic that faces us all.

He is cheering us on. Some of those disciples had made mistakes in the past and would make more into the future but He loved them dearly and was committed to working with them and helping them – ‘gracing’ them. Jesus is not just working with us but he is working within us by his Spirit.

On your particular journey at this present time all you may seem to be doing is rowing your lungs out, but he is up on the mountain praying. He is praying for our faith and watching, and he is willing to come to you in a supernatural way, and when he does, 'immediately you are on the other side' - to where he wants you to be. When the connection happens, you become a different person and your world changes.