Matthew 14:22-33
I was reading this passage about a month ago and something stuck with me. I couldn't bring myself to reading past this and I felt that God did that for a reason. I can't say I really understand the full extent of this passage but here is what I think it means and how it applies in life.
"22Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray."
After Jesus fed the 5000, he "immediately" made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him while he dismissed the crowd. Why do you think he did this? I think there are two reasons. One, he wanted to have genuine time to pray to his Father and two, he wanted to teach the disciples something which will come later.
The part that sticks out for me in this section is where he went "by himself to pray". I know there are times during my prayer times where I say a quick prayer for meals, and even during my devotion time, but is that really genuine time with God? I look at my life right now, and I see all the time that I have and yet, I am wasting it on stupid pointless things. I don't even take 30 minutes out of my day to spend time with God in prayer and meditation! Where in this passage, we see that Jesus has probably spent a long time praying (into the fourth watch of the night). I think to myself, why can't I just take time alone to spend with God?
"When evening came, he was there alone, 24but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.
After Jesus spent some time in prayer he saw that the disciples were struggling in the wind/storm. Now, this I see the wind/storm as our own lives. Where we decide to do things on our own and venture into the storm ourselves. Only to find that the storm is too strong for us and we constantly struggle.
25During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It's a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear."
At this point in time, we are struggling in the winds of our lives and now Jesus is walking out to us. We actually see him but we don't know who he is (or if it is him). So our natural reaction is fear. When we start seeing Jesus in the storms of our lives, I think we are naturally scared of him because we have become "comfortable" in these storms and are not use to seeing Jesus or being in his presence. We mistake him as something bad instead of good.
27But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid."
Now this is when Jesus will start talking to us and revealing that it is actually him who is walking out to us. "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid." We often will feel God's presence and sometimes hear God saying to us, "Don't worry about it, I'll take care of you." or "I will take you out of this storm you have gotten yourself into." Now this storm can be tough times in your life with family, friends, people, relationship, etc.
28"Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water."
After we hear God's call, we are very quick to challenge and "test" him a little bit to see if it is actually God calling us to do something. I don't think it's wrong to "test" if it is God. In fact, if we listened to every voice that tells us to do something, that could be dangerous and it could be telling us to do something against God's Will. We need to constantly test what people say with scripture and prayer. This includes what I am writing right now.
29"Come," he said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.
30But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!"
Now I wonder... when we test God and He responds to us. There are times when we know it's God and we decide to take the first few steps out of the boat. We keep our eyes on Jesus and we continue to walk to him. The storms in our lives don't matter anymore and we are now walking on the water in the storm. However, the storms in our lives are extremely strong we start noticing the winds and tough times in our lives and lose sight of Jesus. We lose focus on Jesus and start worrying about the storms again. Next thing we know, we're in the middle of the lake in a storm and we're sinking.
I think of this next part as a place where it will either make us or break us with our trust in God. Some of us will swim back to the boat and try and fight the storm ourselves but what did Peter do in this situation? Even though he lost sight of Jesus for a second, he still cried out to Jesus to help him. His focus went right back to Jesus when he started sinking. There are times in our lives when we are sinking and are sinking FAST. Nothing is going right for us and it seems like the whole world is against us. It is during that time that we REALLY need to look to Jesus. That being said, we should always be looking to Jesus =).
31Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?"
When we cry out to Jesus, he will ALWAYS be there to catch us. It is then he will ask us and remind us of how little faith we have. Why do we doubt? Why don't we see that if we look to Jesus, we can "walk on water"?
32And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."
It is only when we decide to let Jesus climb into our hearts (boat). Notice that as soon as Jesus climbed into the boat, the wind/storm died down. If we truly let Jesus into our hearts, these winds and storms will no longer mean anything to us. They will be dead.
This passage applies to me in my life because the storms are definitely plentiful in my life. With my decision to go into ministry with IVCF, I have the storm of my family (and some friends) bearing down on me telling me that this isn't such a good idea and that they will not support me in this ministry, fundraising for this internship, the worries of the future and life, how will I take care of a family, etc. These are all storms in my life.
Now, I have heard God call me saying to me, "Justin, you don't need to support yourself or your family. I will take care of all your funds and the funds for your family. The job that you are doing now, you are to NOT support yourself. This is an abundance I have given you and you are to use this to bless others with." I've decided to say "Yes" to this and to keep my eyes on Jesus, but not after sinking a few times (and still quite often do). I have now let Jesus back into my boat (heart) and let him direct me. You know what the outcome of this is? I am now 70% supported for my internship in only a month! My relationship with my family has gotten 100 times better. I have formed new friendships and relationships and strengthened old ones. God has literally made money come out of nowhere and people come out of nowhere to partner with me in this ministry. However during the storms, the worries of the future, relationships, and ministry... That is when fear starts to settle into my heart. I start to focus on the storms and then begin to sink. This will happen... I'm definitely not perfect. But I see the difference between keeping my focus on God and the fear in the storm. I have to say, keeping my focus on God trumps ALL the storms in my life.
I want to encourage you to continue on looking to Jesus. Especially when you take those steps out of the boat. Keep looking to him. When you sink, don't swim back, turn your eyes on Jesus and call for him. Desire him with all your heart and look to him as your only hope. He will come. Invite him back into your hearts and he will calm the storms. Be patient with this and have faith.
Don't lose faith.
