Stand or Sink?

To work a puzzle, you pick up one piece at a time, consider where it fits in with all the other pieces, then put it in the right place within the whole picture.

Studying the Word of God is sort of like that. Like a single puzzle piece, we usually take one small section of the Bible at time to examine. Sometimes we don’t give a lot of thought as to where a single piece fits within the whole picture of Jesus’s earthly ministry. But it helps if we do connect all the pieces together.

In my last post, I connected the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand to the day the news came that John the Baptist had been beheaded. Today’s post in a continuation of that same night.

Jesus fed thousands of men, women, and children with five loaves and two fish. Then twelve baskets of leftovers were collected. In the gospel of John, we see the reaction of the crowd after witnessing the miracle.

“This is of a truth the Prophet who is come into the world,” said the crowd. They were referring to the Prophet God promised would come in Deuteronomy 18:15. Jesus perceived what the crowd was thinking. John 6:15 tells us the crowd intended to take Jesus by force and make Him king.

What did Jesus do? He sent his disciples by ship to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. Then sent the crowds away. After they left, Jesus went up into the mountain alone--to pray.

Can you just imagine the prayers of the Son of God? And Jesus prayed for a long time.

That very night, His disciples participated in the feeding of thousands of people. Jesus knew the heart of each disciple. He knew they hadn’t understood the miracle they saw. Mark 6:52 tells us they hadn’t understood about the bread because their hearts were hardened. Alone in prayer on the mountain, did Jesus pray for each one of them to understand who He was?

While Jesus prayed, a storm engulfed the Sea of Galilee. The disciples were madly rowing against the fierce storm and getting nowhere. Sometime during the fourth watch of the night (between 3 AM and 6 AM) Jesus came down from the mountain. When Jesus reached the water’s edge, He took control of the sea He created. He stepped out and walked on water toward the ship that held His disciples.

In the middle of the storm-tossed sea, the disciples saw a figure moving toward them. They were terrified and thought it must be a spirit.  

“It is I; don’t be afraid,” Jesus called. Matthew is the only gospel that tells us what happened next.  

“Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water,” said Peter.

“Come,” said Jesus.

Then in the middle of the storm, Peter climbed over the side of the boat and walked on water toward Jesus. The rest of the men must have been stunned to see what was happening.

Suddenly Peter looked around him and saw the wind and waves. He was afraid.

“Lord, save me,” Peter cried out as he began to sink.

Jesus reached toward Peter and took his hand.

“O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” Jesus said.

Peter and Jesus got into the boat which was still being tossed about by the waves. As soon as they got into the boat, the wind stopped.

The wind was calm and the storm was over.

“You are certainly God’s Son,” they said as they worshipped Him. The disciples understood that even the sea and the wind obeyed Jesus. Maybe this was the turning point when they understood on a deeper level that Jesus was truly the Son of God

There have been times in my life when I’ve been overwhelmed with problems and grief that made me feel like I was tossed about on a raging sea. Often, I’ve turned to this event in Matthew 14 where Peter gets out of the ship and walks on water.

Jesus has taught me through these verses that He is with me even in the middle of the storms of life. As long as I keep my eyes on Jesus, He gives me the strength to rise above the tossing waves. But if I take my eyes off Jesus and look around me at life’s problem, I sink.

I’m thankful for this event recorded in the Word. I’ve needed that puzzle piece to complete the whole picture of Jesus-especially during the storms.

Carla Killough McClafferty