For Saturday February 11, 2023
Mark 6:50
Immediately [Jesus] talked with them and said to them,
“Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.”
Two artists were asked to create original paintings that represented their ideas of peace. One artist painted a beautiful mountain scene: gorgeous colors, deer in the meadow, a bubbling stream—the absence of conflict. The other artist painted a dark picture of a violent storm that was sending the ocean waves crashing against the face of a cliff. But there, tucked into a nook in the cliff, was a bird resting quietly, its face buried beneath its wing, totally at rest in the midst of the storm.
There are two ways God can answer our prayers when we seek peace. He can remove the storms, as in the first painting, or He can give us peace in the midst of the storms, as in the second. Twice in His relationship with His disciples, Jesus gave them peace during storms. Once, He calmed the storm (Mark 4:35–41), and once He came to them in the midst of the waves (Mark 6:45–52). We are free to ask Him to remove the storms of life, but we grow deeper when He leaves us in them and gives us His peace to make it through.
If you are seeking peace right now, you can have it. But it’s best to let God decide how to give it to you.
Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blest;
finding, as He promised, perfect peace and rest.
FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD 