Today’s Bible Reading:
Genesis 44:1-45:28; Matthew 14:13-36; Psalm 18:37-50; Proverbs 4:11-13
Peter walking on the water. It always captures my attention. Now I don’t know exactly what the waves looked like that night, but they had to be something fierce as they were giving the disciples trouble. The NASB states it this way, “But the boat was already a long distance from the land, battered by the waves; for the wind was contrary.” The disciples were struggling to get their boat across the water, of that we can be sure. And then comes Jesus walking on the water.
I just love the way Peter is so often portrayed as jumping in with both feet-this time quite literally. He steps out of the boat and onto the water to walk towards Jesus. Then he looks around at the waves. Have you ever done that? Stepped out to do something and then looked around and realized the enormity of the situation and your own limitations?
What really strikes me this morning is that Jesus did not calm the wind and waves until they were back in the boat. Isn’t that just God’s way sometimes? He keeps us from drowning out there in the wind-tossed waves; not calming them until the time is right. I would much prefer He calm those waves as soon as I cry out to Him, but that is not always His way. These are the moments when I have learned what it means to trust Him. To trust Him not only to eventually calm the wind and waves, but to see me safely through them in the meantime. This is such a timely reminder to me as I find myself once again in the storms of life, praying for the wind to cease, crying out for rescue. This is no time to take my eyes off of Jesus. I would like to think this is a lesson I have learned, but it is still a daily choice. A moment by moment choice. A choice to wake up and spend time with God’s word, spend time in prayer, spend time filling my mind with songs of worship and praise. Spend time delighting myself in Almighty God. I am put in mind of the refrain from an old hymn written by Helen Howarth Lemmel in 1918:
Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace
O soul, are you wearied and troubled? Turn your eyes upon Jesus.
I just love the way Peter is so often portrayed as jumping in with both feet-this time quite literally. He steps out of the boat and onto the water to walk towards Jesus. Then he looks around at the waves. Have you ever done that? Stepped out to do something and then looked around and realized the enormity of the situation and your own limitations?
What really strikes me this morning is that Jesus did not calm the wind and waves until they were back in the boat. Isn’t that just God’s way sometimes? He keeps us from drowning out there in the wind-tossed waves; not calming them until the time is right. I would much prefer He calm those waves as soon as I cry out to Him, but that is not always His way. These are the moments when I have learned what it means to trust Him. To trust Him not only to eventually calm the wind and waves, but to see me safely through them in the meantime. This is such a timely reminder to me as I find myself once again in the storms of life, praying for the wind to cease, crying out for rescue. This is no time to take my eyes off of Jesus. I would like to think this is a lesson I have learned, but it is still a daily choice. A moment by moment choice. A choice to wake up and spend time with God’s word, spend time in prayer, spend time filling my mind with songs of worship and praise. Spend time delighting myself in Almighty God. I am put in mind of the refrain from an old hymn written by Helen Howarth Lemmel in 1918:
Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace
O soul, are you wearied and troubled? Turn your eyes upon Jesus.
May grace, peace, and mercy abound,
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