★ Thought for the Day – The Reward of Resistance ★

It is funny I had planned to post this 6 days ago, but you could say that I faced some resistance! Pun intended! I am officially on vacation until 1/4/2021 but it did not happen without working 12-15-hour days to get ready, so I apologize for the delay of today’s Thought. In the last post called post ★ Thought for the Day – The Purpose of Resistance ★, we discussed what the context of the miracle of the “feeding of the 5,000” was, and that the resistance we experience in our life can be a training ground for us to be prepared to be the hands and feet of Jesus when people in our sphere of influence are going through a storm of life. Today I want to continue looking at the second half of Jesus’ day after the Miracle of Multiplication happened. As a reminder, before the (5) loaves of bread and (2) fish were multiplied to feed 15,000 – 20,000 people, earlier that morning Jesus was told that his cousin John the Baptist was brutally murdered by Herod Antipas (see Matthew 14:1-11). He then left with his disciples before they had even eaten to the remote place where the miracle happened but when they arrived, there was a great multitude waiting for them to be healed and taught. Instead of being concerned with his physical or emotional needs, Jesus spent the day pouring himself out taking care of everyone else. So fast forward to after everyone has filled their stomachs, John 6:12-13 (NLT) gives my favorite detail that is only found here and not in the other (3) Gospels. The command is given by Jesus Himself that we must finish the leftovers, it’s Biblical!

“After everyone was full, Jesus told his disciples, “Now gather the leftovers, so that nothing is wasted.” So they picked up the pieces and filled twelve baskets with scraps left by the people who had eaten from the five barley loaves.”

This post was started in my mind to be written before Thanksgiving when I read this in my Bible Reading Plan. It was also built upon while I was on a Bike Ride which I will never forget. It was November 22, a cold and gloomy Sunday afternoon and I decided to get some exercise in keeping with my 2020 commitment even though it was the last thing I wanted to do. You may recall that in January of this year I posted my annual “Word for the Year” post called ★ Thought for the Day – Consistency Compounds ★, which was before Coronavirus had broken out in the United States. In the shared that my word for 2020 was CONSISTENCY and that I wanted to be known as a man who is CONSISTENT in ALL areas of my life:

SPIRITUALLY…that my walk with Christ would be stronger than ever as I grow in my daily dependence on the Holy Spirit.
PHYSICALLY…that my health would be the best that it ever has been.
AND EMOTIONALLY…that my relationships with my wife, two daughters, friends and co-workers would be better than ever and life-affirming.

One other fun fact…Today is 11 months to the day that I made that commitment public and I have done well to keep it. My wife and I were laughing about how 2020 definitely has been the most consistent in the fact that each day is very much like the last one between the mandatory work from home that I am under and the fact that COVID cases are exploding, we don’t go out much except for groceries.

Anyhow, back to the bike ride revelation. I laced up the sneakers, put on the helmet and started pedaling and from the very cycle to the last one almost and an hour and half later the wind was against me! You can see from my screen capture from the Runkeeper that I had an average speed of 11.15 mph which was my 9^th fastest ride! Now that may not be much for you, but for a 46 year man who did not exercise regularly before 2020, that is amazing for me and something that had I not been consistently exercising throughout the year, training my body I know that I probably would have given up as a result of the resistance and turned back towards home after the first mile. And when I got home and saw the stats of the bike ride, I realized that not only does CONSISTENCY COMPOUND, but that there is REWARD TO RESISTANCE! This was without a doubt the hardest one I had ever been on in my life and one that I will never. As I pedaled and pushed past the exhaustion, the wind whipping against me no matter which direction I went, the story that followed the “Feeding the 5,000” came to mind. It is covered in Matthew 14:22-33, Mark 6:45-52 and John 6:16-21. Jesus sends everyone home and gets alone to pray and commune with His Father, to mourn the loss of His cousin and have some time to rest after a long day of ministry and provision for the multitude. Mark 6:47-52 (NLT) shows that as Jesus was “recharging his batteries” and grieving over the loss of John the Baptist, we see that Jesus still had His eye on disciples, seeing that they were in danger.

“Late that night, the disciples were in their boat in the middle of the lake, and Jesus was alone on land. He saw that they were in serious trouble, rowing hard and struggling against the wind and waves. About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on the water. He intended to go past them, but when they saw him walking on the water, they cried out in terror, thinking he was a ghost.”

John 6:18-21 (NLT) gives a little more detail:

“Soon a gale swept down upon them, and the sea grew very rough. They had rowed three or four miles when suddenly they saw Jesus walking on the water toward the boat. They were terrified, but He called out to them, “Don’t be afraid. I am here!” Then they were eager to let him in the boat, and immediately they arrived at their destination!”

Jesus saw them in the storm and once again left to go to help others. Now I don’t know how long it typically takes to row 3-4 miles without resistance but there is no doubt that they had to work so much harder because of the gale force winds against them. I have read some commentaries and it is speculated that the disciples had probably been rowing 6-8 hours against the storm. Though my bike ride only lasted a fraction of what they went through, I certainly can understand how frustrating it can be to make little progress when you are pressing through adversity but there is definitely a higher purpose for what we go through in life.

In this amazing message called “This is Significant” by Steven Furtick, he spoke about why we go through the storms of life we do, through this story of the disciples struggling to cross the Sea of Galilee. He made these to great points:

“Resistance is often the greatest place for revelation.”

Jesus sent the disciples “against the wind because He needed a situation to reveal His sufficiency.”

Or to say it simply…“Resistance leads to revelation.” And that revelation is found in Matthew 14:32-33 (NLT) after Jesus saved Peter from sinking and they entered they joined the other disciples:

“When they climbed back into the boat, the wind stopped. Then the disciples worshiped Him. ‘You really are the Son of God!’ they exclaimed.”

So, we see that the REWARD OF THE RESISTANCE was that the disciples came to the revelation that Jesus is the Son of God! Whatever you are going through, pray that the Holy Spirit will reveal to you what you need to learn from the situation or hardship because there is a purpose for everything as Romans 8:28 (NLT) reminds us:

“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them.”

In this Christmas season, in the midst of Coronavirus please do not let the enemy have you to focus on the circumstances, the storm you are in but change your perspective and focus on Jesus, the true reason for the season!

I will close on this final thought from C.S. Lewis that is our reward…

“Hardship often prepares an ordinary person for an extraordinary destiny.”