Recently, I took the opportunity
to get away to spend some alone time with the Lord, to hopefully listen and
hear what I needed to hear from Him. I
try to do this from time to time, as there is just so much noise in my life and
other distractions. This particular
time, I chose to combine my time with God with my favorite pastime, fishing.
So, for a few hours I was on a
lake fishing, or I should say pretending to fish as I only caught one small
crappie the whole time. I really would
have liked to catch something, but I was actually annoyed; because, it was
actually a distraction from being able to focus on why I was actually there. The wind was a bit brisk and kept taking me
towards the shore and I found myself worrying about getting caught up in the
weeds, or the fallen trees, or being run ashore. So, finally, I just took myself out to the
middle of the lake, where I knew I could go for a long time without worrying
about those things.
I was better able to focus and my
mind went to the story of Jesus walking on water found in Matt. 14. At first, I was wondering if God wanted me to
step out on the water, but I thought better of it. Instead, I felt led to ask some questions
about this narrative. You have to admit,
it is a little bit Hollywood-ish for Jesus.
What was His point? It made sense
to me to look at the context.
Jesus had just heard of the beheading
of John the Baptist, His cousin. His
initial response was to withdraw “to a desolate place by Himself;” but, the
crowds showed up and Jesus “had compassion on them.” He began to heal them and then, He fed them. Finally, at some point, Jesus sent the crowds
away and “made the disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other
side.”
The disciples were already a bit
troubled by the news that John had been beheaded and, no doubt, wondered if theirs
might be forthcoming. Then, to top it
off, they were hit by a storm, one that appeared to be pretty fierce, even for
a seasoned fisherman. And then, they see
Jesus walking towards them…on the water!
Why?
In the events that follow, we see
impetuous Peter inviting himself out to do what Jesus was doing. All goes well for a while, but he soon begins
to sink and Jesus has to rescue him.
Then, the storm was over, and the disciples “worshipped Him, saying, ‘Truly
you are the Son of God.’”
So many lessons are contained in
this passage of Scripture. You could
easily find 5 or 6 life lessons or principles.
I don’t know that any one is more important than the other, but I would
like to list a few.
1. If you keep your eyes on Jesus,
you won’t sink.
2. f you take your eyes off of Jesus
and are distracted by the storms in your life, just call out and He will rescue
you. No problem.
3. Most of us are not ready to walk
on water for any length of time, but that shouldn’t stop us from taking the
risk.
4. No matter what the storm, Jesus
is always there to give us confidence.
Even when He had His own personal grief to contend with, He took the
time out to meet the needs of the crowd, and He gave the disciples reason to
believe, to trust, and to continue to follow Him.
If there are storms in your life,
whether they be personal need, life-threatening circumstances, or other fears,
Jesus is there for you; and He invites you to come out and walk on the water
with Him. Just keep your eyes on Him.
Godspeed, Phil
No comments:
Post a Comment