Mark 8:27-9:1

Be Still: Lord, quiet the noise within me that I may hear your voice. Amen

Read: Mark 8:27-9:1

Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. (v27)

Encounter: Did you know that, despite being called the Lake District and containing 16 bodies of water, there’s technically only one lake there? The rest are all meres or water. Now you do!

I discovered this on a trip with friends to what I was told was 'Lake Coniston,' which is correctly called ‘Coniston Water’. A small detail, you might think – but there is a 'Lake Coniston' some 120 miles in the opposite direction. That’s where my satnav took me and a car full of passengers. Needless to say, they weren’t thrilled to discover we were still two and a half hours away when we thought we had arrived.

As I read this passage, I was struck by how Jesus, by human reasoning, also seemed to be in the wrong place. Caesarea Philippi was a centre of pagan cult worship, including, at times, child sacrifice. It was home to a deep cavern that tradition claimed was the entrance to Hades, the demon-ruled underworld.

Why would Jesus go there? Surely, he’d put the wrong address in the satnav.

But no – this was intentional. Jesus was making a statement: there is no place too dark, too worldly, too hostile for him to show up. No situation or circumstance we face is beyond his reach. What an encouragement!

But there’s also a challenge - He didn’t go alone. He took his disciples with him.

Not only will God meet us in the darkest places - he may also lead us to them. We are his representatives on earth, carriers of his presence. And he is still set on bringing light into the darkness.

Apply: Is there an area of your life or past that feels too dark to bring to God? He isn’t afraid of the darkness. He can illuminate it with his truth and life. Bring it all to him. Then ask the Spirit: is there anywhere you want to lead me to be light?

Devote: Holy Spirit, meet me; Holy Spirit, lead me.