March 27 – Beyond the Storm
Matthew 14:22-33 22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of Him to the other side, while He dismissed the crowd. 23 After He had dismissed them, He went up on a mountainside by Himself to pray. Later that night, He was there alone, 24 and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. 25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw Him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. 27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” 28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” 29 “Come,” He said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” 31 Immediately Jesus reached out His hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
I am sharing the entire scene because it is so powerful. Sometimes, fear grips us. We may start off with bravery and someone threatens us, or tries to hurt us, or sickness strikes, financial crippling starts, and suddenly, we lose it and we feel we are about to sink.
I was going through a very bad situation more than 14 years back. One night, I had the strangest dream. I was on wild ocean and the ocean waves were about to drown me, and as I looked towards the beach, I saw one known woman and another unknown woman watching me, waiting expectantly for me to drown. I sensed they wanted me to drown. Just when I was about to sink, I cried out “Jesus!” Immediately, in my dream, He appeared and lifted me out of the perilous waters and I was safe. After that dream, my real life situation became better. The dream carried the very power of His presence and was an amazing reminder to me that in my life, if I am about to sink and I call upon His name, He will lift me up! This is a powerful promise to carry through life.
Remember, if a mighty storm rises with wind and waves battering us, with darkness threatening to drown us and hope is gone, a ray of His light will shine in the dawn and His very personal presence rescues us. He love us so much, He is so faithful. ship and passengers. Everything that wasn’t nailed down was thrown overboard. There was no food to be had. Finally, “when neither sun nor stars had appeared for many days, and no small tempest raged, all hope of being saved was abandoned.”
Gary Allan: Every storm runs out of rain, just like every dark night turns into day.
Paul and his crew nearly drowned but an angel visited him the night before, and the promise of God’s presence kept the ship from sinking. We will survive and reach our destination. God is faithful, hold on to His love and talk to Him through the storm and He will lift you up out of it or sail you through it to your destination.
Rita
Comments