A Place Called Dalmanutha

And straightway he entered into a ship with his disciples, and came into the parts of Dalmanutha. And the Pharisees came forth, and began to question with him, seeking of him a sign from heaven, tempting him. And he sighed deeply in his spirit, and saith, Why doth this generation seek after a sign? Verily I say unto you, There shall no sign be given unto this generation. And he left them, and entering into the ship again departed to the other side (Mark 8:10–13, KJV).

There is no greater place of safety than in the house of the Lord and in His presence. We should always remember that if we seek God’s presence, He will meet us (Jeremiah 29:13). In God’s presence there is fullness of joy (Psalm 16:11)—He will make us feel better and change our circumstances. God may not meet our need in the way we think He will, but He will always supply it (Philippians 4:19).

While we may accept the fact that God will move, we often try to paint Him into a corner for how He should move in our life. If God doesn’t act according to the way we think He should, we get bent out of shape. We need to remember that God’s ways are higher than our ways, and thoughts higher than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8–9).

In our setting of Scripture, Jesus had a specific destination when He set sail. He sailed to Dalmanutha. Jesus arrived, but instead of being greeted by a welcoming spirit, Jesus met opposition. He quickly left without performing any miracles. Due to the spirit of opposition, the people of Dalmanutha did not receive from Jesus what He had in store for them that day.

There are elements in our lives that have become an obstacle that God never intended to cause us problems. When God desires to do something in our life, we need to remove every obstacle from our life so that He can complete a work. Many times we walk away from the presence of God without seeing a miracle either because we had the wrong attitude, God met a need we didn’t want Him to meet, or we didn’t allow God to break the chains that were binding us!

We need to lay aside every weight and just be in His presence! Whether it takes a short or a long period of time to receive our miracle, we need to stay faithful to God and stay faithful to His house. Today, no one knows where Dalmanutha is. This sends a clear message to us that this city wasted away because of how they interacted with the presence of God. If the people allowed Jesus to operate in the way He came to work, what would be known of this city today?

Today, we need to present ourselves as an empty vessel to the Lord. We should present our bodies a living sacrifice to God (Romans 12:1) and allow Him to complete His perfect work in us. Let’s not create a new place called Dalmanutha in our life today. Let’s not allow our miracle to pass us by because of our own ideals and attitudes. Instead, when the Lord gets ready to move, let Him move!