God And Ghosts

Mark 6:48-51 (NIV)

‘Shortly before dawn he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, because they all saw him and were terrified. Immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down.’

One night my mum tripped over a tonne of stuff she had told me to take up from the stairs. This was not the first time I’d done this, and if you don’t know African moms well - to put it mildly, she wasn’t happy. She came to my room in the middle of the night to tell me off. The thing is I sometimes sleep with my eyes slightly open and she thought I was awake - I wasn’t. When I woke up, to a figure in the dark having a go at me, I screamed in her face. It was only when she shouted my name I realised it was just my mum.

I fully relate to the disciples thinking Jesus was a ghost: out of context situations sometimes make it hard to identify that which is familiar. Sometimes life presents circumstances that are complex and confusing. But I feel God is teaching me how to be able to identify him speaking even when I don’t necessarily see his face. I’ve learnt to be open to his voice and to look out because sometimes he is speaking in the most unusual places.

His voice brings comfort and this Bible incident is a simple reminder of who is in control of what. A reminder that God can repurpose that which seems destructive. It blows my mind that Jesus repurposed a stormy sea as his pavement. Sometimes it is difficult to grasp this. Sometimes a ghost seems more plausible. How much more comforting to know that we serve a God that sits outside the realm of possibility, one who is completely unbothered by the things that we are afraid of.

Prayer – God, in the midst of everything that surrounds me, would you help me to be able to identify and fix my eyes on you.