Brothers and Sisters, (Matthew 14:25-31) And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? In Matthew 14, Jesus had just fed the 5,000 with a little boy’s lunch of just 5 loaves of bread and 2 fishes. (Little is much when God is in it!!) Next, he instructs the disciples to get in a ship and sail to the other side while he sent the multitudes away. The disciples do what the Lord says and as they were sailing across the sea to the other side a storm came up. Next, we see Jesus come to them in the fourth watch of the night (just before daybreak when it was the darkest). When the disciples saw him, they thought he was a ghost which scared them even more than they were already. Then Jesus comforted their fears by saying, “Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid”. Circumstances in life can cause us great fear. It seems as if all we can do is focus on the problems instead of the solution. I must confess that I’m guilty. Years ago, when we first moved into our new church building, my good friend Bro. Noah brought me a picture to put in the church office. It’s a picture of Daniel in the den of lions. The picture has Daniel in the forefront looking up while the lions are in the background. Bro. Noah had a wooden plaque made to put under this picture which says something to this effect, “Look at the solution, not the problem”. We need to keep looking at the solution instead of our problems every day. “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith”. Now back to our story in Matthew, Peter said, “Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water” and Jesus said, “Come”. When Peter came down out of the ship, he actually walked a few steps on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid and began to sink. Isn’t that just like us? We know that Jesus is the solution to all of our problems, but instead of keeping our eyes on him, we look down at our circumstances (problems) and we are afraid. (Guilty as charged!!). If we keep looking at our circumstances we are going to fall just like old Peter. What happened? Peter simply failed to keep looking to Jesus. He looked at the waves (circumstances) and he began to sink. When he cried out to Jesus, “Lord save me” immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught Peter. There are plenty of waves (circumstances & problems) all around us, but you’d better get your eyes off of them and keep your focus on Jesus. (Me included). Just as the McKamey’s sing, when those waves are over your head, they are under His feet. Don’t forget; Jesus was walking on the water! He was above all of Peter’s circumstances and problems and He is above all of ours as well. Just cry out to Him and He’ll reach out his hand and catch you before you sink under the pressure of your circumstances. HALLELUJAH!!!
Bro. Rick | | |
