Passage: Matthew 14:22-34
“Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,”he said, “why did you doubt?” v.31
It was the miracles of miracles at that point.
The first mass miracle took place in Decapolis, where between ten to fifteen thousand people were fed with two fish and five loaves of bread. I can only imagine the excitement, as the multitudes watched the fish and bread multiply before their eyes. Yahweh Jireh, their Provider, fed the hungry in an unprecedented display of His glorious provision to the masses.
The disciples’ hearts must have overflowed with joy… and Pride. After all, they were His selected men. The ones who were chosen to walk alongside the Christ.
As we read the text, it’s interesting to realize that, instead of allowing them to remain with the crowd a little longer, Jesus immediately “made” His disciples get into the boat, cross the sea and go to the other side ahead of Him, while He dismissed the crowd (v. 22).
I believe Jesus knew their hearts were swelling with pride for being part of Messiah’s inner circle. They needed to withdraw, get away from the accolades of men and the material substance of the miracle, regroup, and realize that He had come to give them much more than just daily bread.
He knew that their faith needed more testing… and they were about to get it.
Success and popularity have the power to excite us and make us start hoping for great things. The problem is that, though we hardly ever realize it, our hopes for spiritual victories too often include hopes for our own advancement. Therefore, after a season of miracles and supernatural blessings, God often pulls us out of the hype and excitement, and sends us on to the next journey of testing, where we will realize that our faith must grow in the same proportion as our humility and dependence upon God… and God alone.
It’s true – We see the bread before our eyes and our faith grows. After all, we can touch it, taste it, feel it. The provision and deliverance is real. We can boldly shout to the world: He provides! He heals! He reigns! But then, just as He did to the disciples, He takes us out of the material and sends us into the sea of the Unknown. In the dark hour, storms rise and our boat tosses about.
Fear rises within… And we forget.
The eyes that saw the impossible are suddenly blinded by the darkness around…
The hands that touched Provision become restless…
The tongue that proclaimed the miracle can’t even pray…
We watch the winds and the waves raging, and forget the grand miracle we just witnessed ashore…
In our distress, we see a ‘Ghost’ walking on the water, and we don’t even realize that it is He. The One who just broke the bread and multiplied the fish… walks towards our situation and we don’t recognize Him. Click To TweetThe One who heard our heart’s cry… comes to our rescue in the night and we can’t identify Him past the storm.
My heart understands Peter as he realizes that it was Jesus who has come to their rescue!! I understand his reason to say: “tell me to come to you on the water!” He knows Jesus is his safety. He’s eager to believe. He thinks his faith to be strong. He trusts his heart not to wave.
So do we, Peter. So do we.
And yet, as our eyes veer from the Savior’s face to focus on the raging sea, our faith tested once again, we forget the bread and the fish. The storm reveals our weakness…
And.we.sink.
Oh, Lord, my God! How truly I understand – that it doesn’t matter how many times we’ve watched You act, our feeble hearts so often betray what we know:
That even when You seem to have left us alone, You’re always there…
That all we have to do is call out to You… “LORD! Save me”
And hear Your sweet voice whisper in the darkness:
“Take courage!
It is I.
Don’t be afraid.
You can face the storm.
Only don’t trust your feeble heart, Child.
Just trust My omnipotent hand to deliver you.
I’ll pull you out of the icy, stormy waters.
And make them solid ground.
Because wherever I stand… you cannot sink.
Not today. Not ever.
“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior” Isaiah 43:2
Take courage! It is Jesus that calls you to walk on water. He'll make it a solid ground. For wherever He stands, you cannot sink. Click To Tweet
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I'm recharging with @PatHolbrook . LINKUP PARTY is open to Christian Bloggers. Peter had just witnessed the impossible. So why could he not walk on water? Click To Tweet
Patricia,
I love the image that wherever He stands, we cannot sink. As believers He always stands by us, ready to lift us up with that righteous right hand. I hate when fear creeps in and questions what we KNOW to be true. Great post!
Blessings,
Bev xx
Thank you, Bev! He is indeed our Guide, Protector, Deliverer! What an awesome truth! May we grow each day more and more into someone who trusts Him in the storms as much as we do in the sunshine.
So thankful that you always stop by 🙂
Blessings,
My goodness! That Painting! I keep going back to it and being amazed by the appropriateness of that image of the extended hand. Gorgeous.
I know, right? It was certainly divinely inspired! Thanks for participating, Michele! Always a pleasure having you!
Patricia there is a recurring theme this week. Taking our thoughts/fears/insecurities captive to the obedience of Christ. xo
Amen! I LOVE 2 Corinthians 10:5 – it’s one of the verses I quote the most to my teenager!
Thanks for participating, Susan! You are a blessing!
This. Is. Great. Patricia, I love this article. It’s packed full of truth, wisdom, and insight. These thoughts call for constant reflection. “Therefore, after a season of miracles and supernatural blessings, God often pulls us out of the hype and excitement, and sends us on to the next journey of testing, where we will realize that our faith must grow in the same proportion as our humility and dependence upon God… and God alone.”
Thank you so much, Karen! That’s exactly what Jesus did to His disciples… and He so often does to us. It happened to me not long ago. A season of many blessings was followed by a season of much, MUCH testing.
God bless you, sister. And thanks for linking up with us again!
The storms reveal our weaknesses so we can grow stronger in Him. And be more abundantly free in our identity to Christ. This humbling can be hard but sharing God’s wisdom in how He never leaves us even when we falter is a message well received today. Thank you!
I am so glad, Lynn! To God be the glory! So thankful for your faithful participating on our weekly linkup.
Have a blessed day!
I echo what the others said, but the pictures really reinforce the point. I was struck by the desperation of the hand above water. (I nearly drowned so I probably read more into the picture) and it’s true pride plays a part in our drowning.
Beautiful. Thanks for hosting.
So glad you enjoyed it, Nylse. I was like that when I first saw this picture. Absolutely stunning!
Blessings to you!
Perfect timing for this message. Thanks again Patricia.
So glad to hear, Connie! Thank you for reading it!
Blessings,
So glad that Jesus never lets us sink. But boy can I relate to Peter.
Me too, Theresa! 🙂
Thanks for stopping by and participating!
Thank you for hosting the link up.
The image of Jesus reaching into the water, was an image my stepdaughter was given by the Lord when her husband of 12 months, our son in law was killed in a car accident traveling to work 3 years ago. She was drowning in grief….Jesus reached in….
I find it interesting that the Holy Spirit leads us bloggers to write on the same stories of scripture but from totally different perspectives!
Patricia, You may find my post for this week interesting!
Jennifer
Hi, Jennifer!
I loved your post and commented on it. So, so true! It goes along with my message here beautifully, and it adds another insightful angle to the principle of trusting God. Thank you for sharing it!
Blessings to you,
PS: I would love to visit Australia some day! 🙂
So, so good!!! I’ve never thought of it quite like this before, but wow- does it make sense to me! I’ve experienced the immediate valley lows on the hind of extreme mountain highs, before. It always stinks, even though my heart knows there is purpose for the pain. We must stay humble and dependent on Him!
Amen, Rachel!
It is when we face another valley that we must remind our hearts of the numerous times God came to our rescue, and His faithfulness. Had Peter anchored his heart on that truth, he would not have sunk!
Blessings!