"....But the boat was already a long distance from the land, battered by the waves; for the wind was against them. And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea. When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, "It is a ghost!" And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid." Peter said to Him, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water." And He said, "Come!" And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, "Lord, save me!" Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and *said to him, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?" When they got into the boat, the wind stopped. And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, "You are certainly God's Son!" Matthew 14:24-33 (NASB)
As I was reading and meditating on this passage, I had such a
sense of how much Jesus longs for us to trust Him. When Peter climbed out of
that boat to walk on the water, he looked down at the waves and started to sink. Jesus said, "Oh you of little faith, Why did you doubt?" I had always thought of these words as a
rebuke. But then yesterday it was so clear to me, He
revealed His heart in those words. They were words of
disappointment--sadness. He so longs for someone to walk on the
waters with Him. He longed for those who knew Him best to overcome the
limits of this world and by faith in Him reach the heights for which He created
them.
He was
rooting for Peter! When Peter sank, He was so quick to grab him up, and
did not allow him to flounder, but oh, how he wanted to see Peter walk to Him. As long as Peter kept his eyes on Jesus, he walked on the water. It was when he looked down and saw the waves that he lost his faith and began to sink.
It made me
see faith, my desire for faith in a different way. I believe I had picked
up an understanding of faith as the necessary ingredient to getting prayers
answered, a necessary ingredient to living our Christian lives...but it was in
meditating on this passage that I saw faith is not some magical thing
we need to have to make things "happen" but the measure of trust in
Jesus that reaches Him despite the storms. I desire to live by faith, not to
"get answers to prayer" but to bless the heart of the One who longs for us to totally
trust in Him. Blessed is she who believes what has been spoken to her by the LORD! By faith, we can leap upon the mountains and walk on the water. If we have faith in Him, we can go with Him wherever He goes, wherever He wants to take us and we
will trust Him and not limit His ability to work in our lives. Our faith blesses Him and causes us to meet the longing in HIS HEART for us to be with Him where He is at.
He desires. He longs. He hopes.
I was seeing
how Jesus set up this situation with the disciples in the boat to let them display their faith. They had
already gone through a storm in a boat with Jesus sleeping. There they
had revealed their lack of faith. They had even really maligned Jesus love for
them by asking Him if He even cared that they were perishing.
They had just watched Jesus feed the five thousand. Then He sent them out in
the boat, and He went to the mountain to be alone and pray. He knew another
storm was brewing. It was an opportunity for them to show Him they were
beginning to believe. Beginning to break free from the constraints of
this natural world and trust
Him. They really had not yet grasped WHO HE IS. When Jesus had earlier calmed the storm, they asked "what kind of man is
this...?" This time they worshipped Him and KNEW that He was the Son
of God. This time they passed the test!! Even though Peter sank, he
had the faith to climb out of that boat and for even a brief moment walk on the
water!!
LORD,
I pray for our families, that You will prepare their hearts to KNOW YOU and to
TRUST YOU to help them to weather the storms that You allow to come into their
lives. I pray that they will know that You do CARE. That You long
for them to trust You, so that You can lift them up and hold them as the waves
batter them. That You will be with them til their feet are planted surely
upon the firm ground of
heaven. Lord, cause our families to WORSHIP YOU and KNOW YOU as the Son
of God. Speak to the Storms that batter them now, Speak stillness into
their hearts.
I want to go back and look at
the other situations where the Lord said, "Oh, you of little
faith." I had always read them as rebukes. But when I was
reading this the other day, it was as if deep understanding came with the words
to see Jesus heart. It is hard to even put it into words. It was
the longing for "companionship" but more than that, for koinonia, for closeness for someone to break through
the barriers and limits of this natural world in order to be with Him, to be
able to drink fully of all that He holds for us, not for those things, but for
the joy of being totally free to trust Him.
Lord give me the faith to get out of the boat and walk on water at Your command! Fix my eyes so totally on You that I can't hear all the lies and arguments telling me that I can't do it! If you say I can walk on water, LORD help me to believe You. Help me to forget the storms raging around me. Focus my eyes on you so that nothing else matters but
Jesus. Amen
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