FRIDAY, APRIL 29
READ MATTHEW 14:28-33
MATTHEW 14:28 Then Kefa called to him, “Lord, if it is really you, tell me to come to you on the water.” 29 “Come!” he said. So Kefa got out of the boat and walked on the water toward Yeshua. 30 But when he saw the wind, he became afraid; and as he began to sink, he yelled, “Lord! Save me!” 31 Yeshua immediately stretched out his hand, took hold of him, and said to him, “Such little trust! Why did you doubt?” 32 As they went up into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 The men in the boat fell down before him and exclaimed, “You really are God’s son!”
Peter’s impulsive but utterly honest response to Jesus’ appearance in the storm is so consistent with all we know of him. “Let me walk on the water like you have done, and come to you” (AP). His initial response is enthusiastically full of trust. His eyes are on nothing but Jesus. Then Peter notices the reality of situation that rages around him, and his heart is seized with the cold hand of fear. Instead of looking toward the one who has come to rescue, Peter is overwhelmed with the thought of what might be happening to him. Boldness and trust disappear as fear and doubt rise up within him. Only Jesus’ strong hand keeps him from the water’s chaos and death.
You and I have been on this lake many times. If we have not yet been, life will inevitably take us there. Sometimes it is only in the midst of extremity in our lives that we can understand God’s care for us. But those times—the death of a loved one, the suffering of a child, the moral pain of witnessing injustice and oppression going unchecked, the endless string of our own broken promises—are very strong and very real. We, like Peter, take our eyes off God’s offer of salvation, and we sink like stones.
God wants nothing more for us than to release us from our self-preoccupations and to free us from the enemies within. The One who was present at the creation of wind and wave and who knows our fears and doubts remains ruler over the sea and bringer of grace. So when we allow God to come to us and permit ourselves to move toward God, the winds are calmed and we know him for who he is—God-with-us.
Forgive us, Lord, our doubts, little and vast. When in the night the storms threaten, keep our eyes on you alone. Amen.[Don E. Saliers]
Our mailing address is:
The Upper Room Strategic Initiatives
PO Box 340007
Nashville, Tennessee 37203, United States
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