I read the passage about Jesus walking on water in Matthew 14:22-33. There were a few things that struck me today out of this passage though I had read it many times before.
1. This follows the miracle of feeding the five thousand with only five loaves and two fish.
2. Jesus needed to be alone and pray to His Father so He went up the mountain to pray. He needed to be rejuvenated by the Holy Spirit and so do we. We must spend time in the Word and in prayer in order to be refreshed.
3. While He was in prayer while the disciples were in a boat heading to the other side. They were a good ways out when Jesus came to them walking on the water. When the disciples saw they thought he was a ghost.
WHY? They thought He was a ghost because it defied human logic that Jesus could walk on water.
In Mathew 14:26 its says that the disciples were terrified and not only that they said, “It’s a ghost!” They were blinded by their human logic that they could not see that it was Jesus out on the water.
How many times do we go about our everyday lives and become terrified of our circumstances that we can not see Jesus in the midst of everything?
In my Sunday School class last week I asked the kids what they would do or say if Jesus appeared right then in front of them. Here are there answers: Kid #1 “I would hug Him!” Kid#2 “I would freak out!” and finally Kid #3 “I would say, I love You!” I would be willing to say that more times than not our first impulse would be to freak out. We do not always recognize God’s hand in our lives until look back and see what He has done.
4. Jesus told them it was Himself and not to be afraid.
5. Peter questioned Him saying, ” If its You, command me to come out to the water to You.” How many times do we question like Peter in this instance to see if something is really of the Lord?
Once we recognize Jesus in our circumstances and can focus on Him then we can His peace but once we take our eyes off Him, we will begin to sink as Peter did. He noticed the wind and the waves around him and became afraid. Jesus was right there to pull him up and out of the water and into the boat.
6. Jesus said to Peter, “You of little faith, why did you doubt.” I think that Jesus might say this to any one of us when faced with hard circumstances and do not trust that God will see us through.
What about You?
Living Fountain 