And in the morning, long before daylight, He got up and went out to a deserted place, and there He prayed. Mark 1:35 (AMP)
The Sun Will Come Out – Part 2
Go to PART 1
On an ordinary Sabbath day in Capernaum, Jesus went to the Synagogue and began to teach, when it seemed that all of heaven broke loose: a healing frenzy took place that started with Jesus delivering a man possessed by demons. The people were amazed and terrified, “who is this man who can command spirits and speak with wisdom and authority…”
Jesus went on to Simon Peter's house where his mother-in-law was fighting sickness… Jesus healed her too (perhaps without Peter’s permission…). From there, the healing rampaged out and into the community. People flocked to Jesus, the whole town it seemed, and he prayed for them, healed them, spoke to them, looked into their eyes, and spent time with them.
Imagine the joy, the tears of relief and hope, the laughter that would have erupted out of the mouths of the rescued…
It was an incredible day.
It could have even been one of those “tomorrow days…” like in Annie's song: “the sun will come out tomorrow. Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow, there’ll be sun.” This day WAS that tomorrow. And the sun was out in full force.
What do you do when that day ends, and another begins? When the sun dims, and rain settles in for the night, and perhaps for the next week?
Jesus began the next day not by basking in the glory of the day before, but in solitude and prayer. Mark tells us that he got up long before daylight, in the still hours before dawn, and went out by himself to pray. We can only speculate about the conversation he had with his Father. Was he getting advice? Was he pouring out his heart? Was he re-telling God his good deeds? Or was he simply asking for the wisdom to live this new day well?
Jesus spent the next morning re-grouping. Focused. Attentive. He was thankful for a day well lived but moved on to live the current one full too. Jesus worthiness and success did not depend on the reaction of the crowds, or even on his “ministry success.” He derived his worthiness from his Divine Father. This gave him the freedom to bring his worthiness to each day instead of trying to extrapolate it from it.
I’m not sure who wrote it originally, but I read a quote recently that said, ‘Grace will take you places hustling can’t.”
Hustling’s not bad. But it is seasonal. Some days, work will flow freely from you, some days success will be painted all through the sky… other days, you won’t be able to find it anywhere. But grace lives through it all.
What kind of day did you have yesterday? Is your sun setting on great success, deep failure or the mundane in-between?
No matter what transpired yesterday, or what your thoughts of tomorrow may be, grace is here now, filling this day to the brim, making it a worthy brick to build your life with. Jesus had a crazy good day on that Sabbath in Capernaum. But the next day he got up and prayed. He prepared his heart and held onto grace for whatever would happen next. And as we know, he needed a lot of grace to carry him through the highs and lows of what was to come. But what came didn’t define him, he wasn’t boxed in by what tomorrow brought him. He defined IT with the grace he took into it. Hustling will only get you so far. Grace will carry you across the line every single time.
Will the sun come out tomorrow? Maybe. No matter what, if you know where to look, you’ll find the grace to make this day meaningful. You can give it your best and receive the Divine's best love for you. Come what may on any given day.
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