Tuesday January 31, 2017

 

Walking on Water

 

Everyone who chooses to seek God does so for different reasons. Regardless of your reason for seeking God, it will only be a matter of time before God leads you into an impossible situation. God will lead you into a situation that will require that your faith meet His faithfulness.

 

The disciple’s day began with Jesus teaching a crowd of more than ten thousand people when you factor in the women and children. The disciples asked Jesus to dismiss the crowds so that they could go into the town and villages and find something to eat as it was getting late. Jesus replied: “There is no need for them to leave. You guys feed them”. The disciples objected complaining that they only had two fish and five loaves of bread. Jesus answered: “Bring them to me”. Then He prayed to God and instructed the disciples to hand out the food. After everyone ate, the disciples gathered up twelve baskets full of food. Before they could even entertain a conversation with Jesus concerning what just took place, Jesus immediately ordered them to get into a boat and go ahead of Him. Jesus then dismissed the crowd and went up to a mountain to pray.

 

Late in the evening, when the boat was a considerable distance from land, a storm developed. The boat was being buffeted by storm force winds when the disciples see someone coming towards them walking on the waters. The disciples were already frightened by the storm winds now upon seeing someone walking on the water they became terrified and cried out “it’s a ghost”. Jesus immediately said to them, “Take courage. Don’t be afraid it is me”.

 

Matthew 14:28-29 NIV

 

 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.

 

I believe that Peter, at this precise moment, understood the lesson Jesus had taught earlier that day. I believe this is when Peter connected the dots understanding the feeding of the multitudes, with his current situation, in the middle of a windstorm. Perhaps Peter thought to himself that what Jesus had commanded them to do earlier in the day was both illogical and impossible. He might have said to himself, all we had to do was to bring to him our limited resources and follow His orders to feed the people. Lo and behold, we had twelve baskets of leftovers. We did our best, which by any standard was not nearly enough, and Jesus did the rest.

 

When God asks you to move out of your comfort zone in any area or situation in your life, when He asks you to do something that exceeds your resources and abilities, all you have to do is bring to Him whatever you have. As limited as it may seem, bring it to Him then watch Him do the rest. Although your situation might be impossible, when your limited faith encounters God’s unfailing faithfulness, the impossible becomes possible. Obeying God’s instructions always activates His faithfulness.