I’m the worst at trust falls. Anyone with me? I’ve only done trust falls a handful of times, with people I trust, but it freaks. me. out. The “trusting someone” part doesn’t freak me out as much as the “losing all control” part does. I wish I could say this chokehold on control is exclusive to trust falls, but it pops up in other areas of my life. I trust God and am relieved to know He is in control, buuuut I want a little of that control, too. It’s not that I don’t trust Him; I just want to be prepared and in the know and have a backup plan.

In our passage today, we get a sneak peek into how Jesus called His disciples to reliance. At first glance, the instructions of Jesus seem extreme. He was already calling His disciples to radical faith; why make it harder? My church has been reading through the book of Mark. In his sermon about this passage, my pastor pointed out that Jesus was not labeling bread, bags, or money as “bad;” instead, He was ensuring that the disciples were relying on the power and presence of Jesus alone. When the disciples returned from their journeys, they knew for a fact that “all that they had done and taught” (Mark 6:30) was a result of the power of Jesus, not any preparation on their part.

This sounds exciting since we know the end of the story – the disciples returned (Mark 6:30)! But imagine all that happened in between verses 13 and 30. Think of all the blistering days, weary nights, and unknowns the disciples encountered. Some of these hardships could have been mitigated by earthly provisions, but God led them in His kindness to rely on Him alone, and He saw them through their journeys and led them back to Jesus at the end. This emboldens and convicts me. Where has Christ called us to step out in faith, and where are we hesitating because we’re grasping for control? What are we missing because of focusing on ourselves instead of our Shepherd King? Today, let us trust fall to Jesus, relying on His provision and embracing His presence. And let’s cast off anything that gets in the way (see Hebrews 12:1, Matthew 5:29-30, Mark 10:17-27).