#011 Stormy Waves, Calm Water (Matthew 14)
Christian, do you, like me, find yourself praying more when things are going wrong in life, or potentially going wrong in life?
Do you reach out to God more frequently and with more urgency when you sense an oncoming storm, or suddenly find yourselves in one?
And in a sense, that’s entirely understandable. I’d say that most Christian prayers are requests, and most requests are for help. When things are going well in life, we don’t feel such a need to ask for help. When things aren’t going so well, we do…
We’re just like Peter in Matthew 14, aren’t we?
You know the story well I’m sure.
Jesus has finished feeding the 5,000. He sends the 12 disciples ahead of him by boat to their next location. A storm breaks out on the lake so the disciples don’t make great progress. Eventually, Jesus, who decided to take the same route but on foot, catches up with them. The disciples just about managing to sail on the water, Jesus confidently walking on the water.
After overcoming an initial fright, Peter is keen to experience this unusual interaction with the laws of nature, himself.
He says in v28 ‘Lord, if it’s you… Tell me to come to you on the water.’
Jesus tells him to come. But as soon as Peter did ‘He saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”’
And we’re just like Peter, right? We look at the wind and the waves, the stormy circumstances we find ourselves in, and we fear, we panic and we desperately cry out to Jesus for help!
And good. So we should.
However, Peter’s response is telling isn’t it? It was only when he looked at the waves that he became afraid again. Suggesting that - had the water been calm and flat - he would not have gotten scared, and wouldn’t have begun to sink. Like us, Peter was trusting his circumstances, rather than Jesus.
But Christian, it would have been just as much of a miracle for Peter to walk on calm water as stormy water.
We are just as dependent on Jesus when things are going well as when they are not. Perhaps knowing this will lead us to pray more in the calm, and panic less during the storms.
Do you reach out to God more frequently and with more urgency when you sense an oncoming storm, or suddenly find yourselves in one?
And in a sense, that’s entirely understandable. I’d say that most Christian prayers are requests, and most requests are for help. When things are going well in life, we don’t feel such a need to ask for help. When things aren’t going so well, we do…
We’re just like Peter in Matthew 14, aren’t we?
You know the story well I’m sure.
Jesus has finished feeding the 5,000. He sends the 12 disciples ahead of him by boat to their next location. A storm breaks out on the lake so the disciples don’t make great progress. Eventually, Jesus, who decided to take the same route but on foot, catches up with them. The disciples just about managing to sail on the water, Jesus confidently walking on the water.
After overcoming an initial fright, Peter is keen to experience this unusual interaction with the laws of nature, himself.
He says in v28 ‘Lord, if it’s you… Tell me to come to you on the water.’
Jesus tells him to come. But as soon as Peter did ‘He saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”’
And we’re just like Peter, right? We look at the wind and the waves, the stormy circumstances we find ourselves in, and we fear, we panic and we desperately cry out to Jesus for help!
And good. So we should.
However, Peter’s response is telling isn’t it? It was only when he looked at the waves that he became afraid again. Suggesting that - had the water been calm and flat - he would not have gotten scared, and wouldn’t have begun to sink. Like us, Peter was trusting his circumstances, rather than Jesus.
But Christian, it would have been just as much of a miracle for Peter to walk on calm water as stormy water.
We are just as dependent on Jesus when things are going well as when they are not. Perhaps knowing this will lead us to pray more in the calm, and panic less during the storms.
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