We will all experience “Crucible Moments” where the truth of our faith is revealed. In today’s passage, the truth of the disciple’s faith in Jesus is revealed.

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Crucible Moments

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Below is the transcript used for today’s podcast.

Mark 6:45-56

 “Crucible Moments”

45 Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46 After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.

47 Later that night, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. 48 He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. Shortly before dawn he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, 49 but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, 50 because they all saw him and were terrified.

Immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” 51 Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, 52 for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.

The disciples had not, as of yet, come to the conclusion that He was Messiah. Healer? Yes. Miracle worker? Yes.Wise? Yes. Messiah? Ummm….. the jury’s out on that. Seeing Hi walk on water was sensory overload for them. This crisis – heavy seas, wind – a dangerous time – strips away the feel-good feelings they had at seeing Him feed 15,000 people from a few loaves and fish. This crisis revealed the true condition of their hearts. And the truth is, the disciples had not totally bought in to the fact that Jesus was Messiah. That’s the point of a crisis of faith. It reveals where you truly are in your purported walk with God. Do you REALLY believe God will deliver? Do you REALLY believe God will come through?

I have had several pivotal moments where I found myself in what some would call a “crucible of faith”. 

According to a dictionary.com article titled ”What Does Crucible Mean” (2024),

 A crucible is a severe test or trial or an extremely challenging experience. This figurative sense of crucible is based on the literal meaning of the word: a heat-resistant container used to melt metals. Crucible in the literal sense is used in the context of metallurgy, the science of working with and refining metals. The word is perhaps best known from its use as the title of the 1953 play The Crucible by Arthur Miller; “Their friendship was forged in the crucible of boot camp.”

In metallurgy, a crucible is used to reveal the gold that lies in the middle of all the impurities. In other words, it reveals the true of whatever is subjected to the incredible heat. To bring this to bear on the human experience, the “crucible experience” will reveal the true nature of the heart. Do you REALLY believe in God? Do you REALLY believe He will deliver? When the tornado from the back side of Hurricane Hugo was bearing down on my home in 1989, I found myself in a crucible of faith experience. I was terrified beyond measure. There was no time to think, there was no time to respond, there was no time to protect my family. It is at times like that when we find ourselves instinctively responding, automatically reacting based on the content of our heart. Events like that reveal who you are in the deepest part of your soul. What did I do? To be honest, it felt almost like I was standing outside my body watching myself react. I instinctively quoted scripture, and begged God to deliver my family and I from the tornado. Approximately 50 yards from my house, the tornado lifted and passed over the top of my house.

Does that experience mean I have “arrived” – that I am now “holy”? Nope. What it DID do was reveal to me that I am indeed connected to and in relationship with Him. My instinct was to turn to my Father. My automatic response was to call on God. In the midst of all the dross, there was true gold within.

There have been other times that in “crucible” moments when I did not respond so well. And THOSE moments revealed the true state of my heart in regard to whatever that trial was all about. For example, when I experienced bankruptcy, that entire experience revealed how little I depended on God as it pertained to my family fiscal responsibilities. That trial revealed very little gold midst all the impurities in my life.

This experience of Jesus walking on the water and terrifying the disciples, was a “crucible moment” for the disciples. It revealed that they did not understand Him to be Messiah. They saw Him as a miracle worker. They saw Him as a wise teacher. They did NOT see Him as Messiah… yet. Jesus exposed the true nature of their hearts to them.

Our lives are a string of connected “crucible moments”, when our faith will be tried and refined, and our hearts will be revealed to us. Remaining honest to those experiences requires that we be truthful to what we find in the Refiner’s fire, in the crucible of that moment. In between those “crucible moments” do what you know you need to do, namely, study His Word, fellowship with fellow believers, love God, love your neighbor. You can’t prepare for crucible moments like you would for a History test or a Math test. You don’t know what’s coming. All you can do is work on your relationship with the God of the Universe, and when the trials come, then you can pivot, and face that trial with the strength and power of God’s Spirit and God’s resources… and accept what that trial reveals about you. In the midst of that trial is something God wants to show you… about you.

53 When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and anchored there. 54 As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus. 55 They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. 56 And wherever he went—into villages, towns or countryside—they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.

Be blessed!

Paige