Enveloped or Overshadowed

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MARK

ENVELOPED

Mark 9:5-8

5 Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters — one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah." 6(He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.) 7 Then a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud: "This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!" 8 Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.

NIV

Once again Peter is thinking about the world’s way of handling a situation. Here is a man who had been inspired by the Holy Spirit, a man who had received a revelation from the Spirit that Jesus was the Christ, and here he is again, wanting to build a worldly shelter for heavenly beings. Sure he is frightened, he and the two others are the only human beings, at least that we know of, who are standing in the presence of people who had died, gone to heaven and are now standing in front of them. Yet this was not all they were going to experience, just as Peter is saying something stupid a cloud envelopes them and he hears the voice of God. What are we to learn from this? We already know that who Jesus is, this was for Peter, James and John. Yet there is a truth for us in that we should always be aware of the eternal presences of God, and that those who have preceded us in death are with him, and capable, if God deems it necessary, to return in a vision to encourage our faith. It is also a truth that God has and still can speak to us in an audible voice, so that we can understand him. So often, perhaps most of the time, we live in the physical realm of the world, thinking in terms of material things, seemingly unaware of the supernatural power of God. But it is very possible for God to demonstrate his power, do something so far outside the realm of this world. Maybe the reason some of us do not experience this kind of supernatural power is because we are not even looking for it, or even believe it would ever happen again. Maybe we think all that was for then, and not for now. Maybe we have accepted the false teachings about how all those things we read about the power of God and his interaction with mankind were just for those times, and all we have or need is faith. Maybe we have accepted that false teaching that none of that is for today, and so we don’t expect it, or miss it when it does occur. Maybe we have accepted those who claim God have called them to tell us what he says to us today. But the truth is, God is still capable of doing everything it is recorded that he did in those days. God has, in fact, sent the Holy Spirit to speak to our hearts and minds, if we are willing to hear him, if we are not trying to build some shelter for him to be contained in, like a church, for instances. It would seem it is far better for us to live in high places, spiritual mountain tops, expecting visions, expecting to hear the voice of God, expecting to be enveloped by the presence of God.