Matthew 14:21-23

21 The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children. 2 2 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone 24 but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.  25 During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.  27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

Jesus had set out to get alone with God only to serve over 5000 now He continues His pursuit of getting alone with the Father even though the storm is coming. Jesus knew the storm was coming but how do you know when it’s going to storm? You don’t but what you do know is that there will be storms. They often come after times of pouring out times of serving. Notice that the storm came while the disciples were in God’s Will. God could have prevented the storm but often He doesn’t. God could have kept Joseph out of Jail. God could have kept Daniel out of the lion’s den. God could have kept Shadrack, Meshak, and Abindigo from the fiery furnace, but he didn’t instead what He did do was to show up in the middle of the Storm!

Time alone with the Father helps get our focus where it needs to be on Him, because when the storms come that is where our eyes need to be on Him not on the circumstances swirling around us. The disciples didn’t recognize Jesus when He came to them. It’s not like they haven’t seen Him in a while, they had just spent time with Him serving together and a full day had not passed. He comes walking toward them and they are frightened. But isn’t that just like us. We don’t see Jesus in our storms. Why? We are so caught up in what we are going through that we don’t recognize when God shows up. The disciples couldn’t see Jesus due to the fact that their focus was on the storm. You’ll never know that God is all you need, until God is all you have

The disciples were between service and a storm, Jesus often works on the between. Between pour in and pour out, Jesus turned water into wine. Between breaking and distributing, Jesus fed the 5000. Between who touched me, and go in peace, the woman with the issue of blood was healed. Between rise up, and take up they bed and walk, the man that had been at the pool of Betheseda for 38 years was made whole. Between the Egyptian army and the Red sea the Israelites found freedom.

Between serving and the storm there is God He is waiting for you.

Matthew 14:9-16

9 The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he ordered that her request be granted 10 and had John beheaded in the prison. 11 His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl, who carried it to her mother. 12 John’s disciples came and took his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus.  13 When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place 14 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.  15 As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.”  16 Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”

Jesus response to the death of John was to get alone with the Father, He withdrew into quiet solitude. During sorrow we withdraw, but often we just withdraw into ourselves just us and our hurts. Jesus took His sorrow to His Father, He went to a solitary place, a place we seem to want to avoid, yet we frequently find God in the silence and solitude. Jesus intentionally got alone with the Father using a boat. I like that because in the pain we need to get out of and get into.  What is your boat, your vessel to transport you to the heart of solitude with the Father? Is it time to get into and get away from?

Jesus does not have long alone, when He lands He sees a large crowd, notice His response was not one of annoyance but compassion. He healed their sick yet the disciples wanted to send the people away “Jesus replied, ‘They do not need to go away”  When we get empty we want to send people away, we stop seeing people through the eyes of compassion, we stop focusing on their needs and we start focusing on the problems. Our conclusion stop serving, send people away, but the people were hungry they needed compassion. Are you empty trying to feed others? You will never be able to feed others from a place of emptiness. Jesus is the one who fed the crowd and when they were finished eating they were full and there were leftovers! He told the crowd to sit down to be still. He longs to fill you, are you willing to sit down with Him? As you feed others ask yourself the question have you eaten today?

Sandwiched between sorrow and service is silence and stillness with God!

Are you running on empty? Is it time to get Alone with God?