The glory in the wind

Click here to read Matthew 14:22-33

Matthew 14:31 “…You of little faith, why did you doubt?”

In this passage of scripture we see Jesus commanding the disciples to get into a boat and go over to “the other side” of the sea. (Matthew 14:22) That was their target destination – the other side. As they were making their way on the boat, they experienced extremely difficult circumstances. A very strong wind began to blow against them. The gospels record that they strained very hard at the oars trying to steer the boat to “the other side” all night. Early in the morning Jesus came walking toward them on the sea. (Mathew 14:25). The disciples were terrified. “But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”” (Mathew14:27)

Upon hearing this, the Bible in Mathew 14:28 says that, “Peter answered him “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on water.” Think about that statement for a moment. Peter answered?? Peter answered?? Which question was he answering? Jesus didn’t ask him any question. I would have liked it if the Bible had said “Peter stated” or “Peter requested” because that would have made more grammatical sense, but the Bible wasn’t written to satisfy my likes. Certain versions use the phrase “Peter replied.” The root word there implies “Peter answered.” What was he answering?

We find that in the earlier verse, Jesus reveals Himself to them - “…It is I…” Every revelation of who Christ is to us is also an invitation for us to walk like Jesus walked. Peter was answering that invitation. Peter was giving his reply to that invitation. “But when God, who had set me apart before I was born and called me through His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me, so that I might proclaim him among the gentiles…” (Galatians1:15,16a). Think of the first time the truth of the gospel was revealed to you. Did you really need an invitation? No. You just knew that the invitation was there. When Christ revealed His salvation to you, you would have replied, “Lord if that is you; bid me to come to you.” And the response forever will be “come.”

“…So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water and came toward Jesus, but when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Jesus immediately reached out His hand and caught him saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” (Mathew14:29-31) There are four things we see happen to Peter: 1. He noticed the wind 2. He became frightened 3. He began to sink. 4. He cried out for help. However the response of Jesus was none of the following: 1. “You of little focus, why did you notice the wind? 2. “You of little courage, why did you fear?” 3. “You of little perseverance, why did you sink?” 4. “You of little composure, why did you panic?” The response of Jesus was “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” This indicates that the four things that happened to Peter happened because he doubted and he had little faith. It was because of the lack of faith that he noticed the wind, became frightened, began to sink and cried out in fear.

Think for a moment what Peter went through. He noticed the wind. What does the wind have anything to do with walking on water? From the little science I know, anything that’s denser than water will sink and vice versa. The wind has nothing to do with whether something sinks or floats. I could try walking on water right now and I am sure I will sink – regardless of whether there is a wind blowing or not! So why was it that Peter took special note of the wind that caused him to fear? Although the wind had nothing to do with Peter walking on water, the wind was the chief cause of a previous failure. It was due to the wind that they could not row the boat ashore. There are many “winds” that we as believers take note of. The wind of failure, the wind of hurt, the wind of opposition, the wind of rejection and so on and so forth. Are the “winds” of yesterday that caused you failure and dejection causing you fear for your walk today?

“…But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead…” (Philippians 3:13) Do not let the factors that caused you failure and difficulty yesterday become your focus. You cannot walk your walk today focusing on yesterday’s winds. If you do, you will become frightened, you will sink and you will panic. So actually what did Peter doubt? He doubted whether yesterdays winds will affect his today’s walk. Notice that the disciples were terrified in the boat. (Verse 26) Then Jesus comes along and says do not fear. (Verse 27) Then Verse 30 says he became afraid again. Keep a constant watch over your life to not let yesterday’s fears creep in to today’s ventures. “Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him." The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.” (Lamentations 3:21-26). Remember the Lord’s compassions are new every morning; they do not depend on the winds of yesterday.

Finally, verse 24 says “the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.” It does not specify which “land”. Whether it was the land from where they started or the land to which they were going. There are two ways of looking at this verse. One way is to say that the boat is far from the destination; far from the “other side”. Another way is to say that the boat is far from where it started. I may not be where I hope to be; nor am I where I ought to be; but by the grace of God, I am not where I used to be. Isn’t it amazing that even though the wind was against the boat, the boat still drifted far from where it started? “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” (Genesis 50:20). Give God the glory for every wind that has come your way.

There is so much I see now
That I was oft blind to
The more of Him I get to know
The less I try to do

His works in me depend not
On mine failure, sin or hurt
But on unbelief and its blot
Will cleanse in me all dirt

When I sense His face and voice
In manners not yet known
Faith in Him will hold its poise
And doubt at last is blown

Thus in Him will my trust rest
Though with my eyes I don’t see
For I know He knows best
I’m glad His love found me.

I have no one

Click here to read John 5:1-9

John5:7”…Sir, I have no one…someone else goes ahead of me”

In this passage of scripture we read about a pool called Bethsaida or Bethesda. By the pool, “lay many invalids – blind, lame and paralyzed” (John5:3). Now Jesus happened to be there one day and his eyes fell upon a man who had been ill for thirty eight long years. (John 5:5). The Bible does not say what his illness was – so we do not know exactly what his condition was; but we do know what his illness was not. All the ill people there were either blind, lame or paralyzed. So we do know that deafness was not his issue, neither was dumbness. He was either blind or lame or paralyzed. Even though many of us may not fall into these categories, there are similar conditions that we may be in.

There are several frustrations that can creep into the life of a child of God. The first one is the frustration of being blind. This frustration is caused by being in a state where one has the potential to do many things, but cannot either due to fear or lack of self confidence. The blind man may have healthy legs and hence the potential to walk, but will not have the confidence to do so. He may have the potential to run, but cannot because of the fear of falling. He may have strong arms and hence the potential to hit a tennis ball well, but cannot because of his lack of vision. Many Christians are in this state of mind today. They feel they can contribute and do a lot more, but they lack the vision to do it. Secondly, the frustration of being lame: This is caused by being in a state of mind where one has the desire or vision to do many things, but lacks the potential or gifting to do it. The lame man can theoretically explain how to run, but cannot demonstrate it by implementation. When he sees a hill, he may have the desire to go trekking, but he cannot because he lacks the potential to do it. A lot of Christians are in this state of mind. Although they have a desire to do many things, they feel inadequate, inferior and worthless. The third frustration is that of being paralyzed. A paralyzed man, no matter how hard he tries, cannot move the part of the body that has undergone paralysis. This frustration can be described the feeling of being “stuck” all the time and not able to move and make progress no matter how hard you try – either in one particular area or in life as a whole. The Bible says that the paralyzed man had been there a long time. Likewise many Christians have been living with these frustrations also for a long time.

Believers who live with such frustrations also tend to have other problems; chiefly, self pity. When Jesus asked him "do you want to get well?"(John5:6), his response was "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me."(John 5:7). People who live with such frustrations are usually bothered and troubled by two things. 1. The hopeless feeling of having no one to help and support them. 2. Getting depressed by seeing people around them making more progress than themselves. The paralyzed man lay there thirty eight long years watching people step ahead of him, getting into the pool and being healed. All along he hoped that someone would help and assist him.

The good news is that Jesus came along to the exact place he laid. Jesus knew he was ill. Jesus also knew how long he had been ill. The good news is that this man was neither deaf nor dumb and hence could communicate with Christ. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Hebrews 4:15, 16) Even though we may have many problems and challenges that are unique to us, we can communicate the same to God because Christ in His death reconciled us to God. "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Mathew 4:4). If we have the ability to communicate to God and privilege to hear from His word, then that is all that is needed for life – because man shall live on the Word of God. Remember, the man was invalid, but he could speak to Christ and he could hear from Christ.

Jesus addressed the root of the problem: “Do you want to be made well.” However, the paralyzed man’s focus was on the lack of solution: “I have no one…someone else goes ahead of me.” Have you been living with frustrations of being “lame”, “blind” and “paralyzed” for a long time? Have you being living in self pity, depression, and a feeling of worthlessness? Take your eyes off the lack of solutions and turn your eyes to the One who knows everything about you. Man shall not live on bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Jesus spoke a word – ‘"Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.’(John 5: 8,9) Enter boldly today into the throne of grace – there you will find mercy and grace to help you in your time of need.

He climbed up, but hurried down

Luke 19:4 “…he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree…” The Bible says that “Zacchaeus was trying to see who Jesus was…”(Luke 19:3a), which indicates that he had never seen Jesus before, but had probably heard about him. But Zacchaues had a problem. “…On account of the crowd he could not see Him, because he was short in stature.”(Luke 19:3b) Zacchaeus thought he could solve this particular problem by running ahead of Jesus and climbing up a sycamore tree that was on the way that Jesus was going to pass through. “When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” So he hurried down and was happy to welcome Him.” (Luke 19:5,6) Isn’t it typical of us to keep thinking to ourselves that we have Jesus in hearts, Jesus in our homes, Jesus in our ministries, chiefly because we chose to invite him in. I wonder how we would have ever opened the door and invited him in, if He had not taken the first step to knock? Yes it is true that Zacchaeus welcomed Jesus home – but do you think he would have had that privilege, if Jesus had never bothered to stop by the tree, look up at him and say, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must…” Wait a minute… I must??? Did Jesus say, “I must…” Zaccheaus didn’t even know who Jesus was; he hadn’t even seen Him before! I would have thought that when you meet someone you haven’t met before and you wanted to stay over at their place for the day, you would ask “Could I please stay at your house today?” or “Would you mind if I stayed over at your place today?” On the contrary, what we read here is not a polite request from Jesus to Zacchaeus, but rather a compelling proposal – “I MUST stay at your house today.” Oh the love of a Holy King who thought of stopping by my sycamore tree and compelled me to have Him come home - home to a sinner like me!! Calvary was not a polite request to mankind to be saved, but a demonstration of how far the love of God would go to compel us to have Him come home to us. “…Rarely will anyone die for a righteous person – though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us…for while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son” (Romans 5:7,8,10a) Notice that in order for Zacchaeus to welcome Jesus home, he had to first hurry down the tree. Would he have been able to take Jesus home if he had refused to come down that tree? Absolutely not! Entering into fellowship with Christ is possible only when we LEAVE OUR GROUND and REACH HIS GROUND – i.e. THE BLOOD. Beware of assuming that Christ came home because you took the effort to climb up the tree. Rather it was because you took the effort and hurried down the tree that made it possible for you to take Him home. Which tree do you tend to climb? The tree of a rich Christian family heritage that makes you think it gives you easier access into fellowship with Christ? “Hurry down”; it is the blood that makes it possible. Or maybe the tree of a disciplined Bible study routine that you follow? “Hurry down” it is the blood that makes it possible. Or maybe the tree of a successful and useful ministry u have? “Hurry down”; it is the blood that makes it possible. “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” (Ephesians 2: 13) “…We have been justified by His blood…” (Romans 5:9). Hurry! Climb down your tree and enter into communion with Him, on basis of the blood and NOTHING else. Lastly, “…the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.” So it was not because Zacchaeus climbed up the tree that he had an encounter with Christ; it was because Jesus came seeking for him there. Even if Zacchaeus had not been on top of a tree, but behind a bush or even lost in the crowd – the Son of Man would have sought him out. “Those whom he foreknew he also predestined…those whom he predestined, he called; those whom he called, he also justified; and those whom he justified, he glorified” (Romans 8:29,30) Are you trying to seek Jesus, but at the same time you feel “short” and can’t seem to find Him? Do not fear – the Son of Man will “seek you out” wherever you are. God knows exactly where you are today. He knows your shortcomings, your fears, your desires, your failures, your worries –He knows everything. Believe in Him. Will you climb down that tree today and receive justification based on the blood that paid your penalty? Will you accept His Lordship over your life and receive His salvation? Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts… He climbed up, but he hurried down and called Him Lord.

I cannot do it

Mark 5: 4 “…he had often been restrained with shackles and chains but the chains he wrenched….shackles he broke…” In this passage of scripture, we read about a demon possessed man whom “no one could restrain”. This conclusion is arrived at because “he has often been restrained with shackles and chains, but the chains he wrenched apart, and the shackles he broke to pieces; and no one had the strength to subdue him.” (Luke 5:4) Although we may not be demon possessed and living among the tombs ourselves, there are many aspects about the spiritual walk we can learn through him. We see the problem being tackled here by two different approaches: i.e. the approach used by the people around him and the approached used by Jesus. The approach used by the people around him was to put restrictions on him viz. the chains, the shackles etc., to control his behaviour. Sooner or later they arrived at the conclusion that “no one could restrain him”. Similarly in our walk with the Lord we try our level best to resort to “restrictions” to live a life free of sin. Sooner than later, we realize that no matter how many times we decide and we resolve and no matter how hard we try, we do not have the power to live a life free of sin. “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate”. (Romans 7:15). The Apostle Paul in his struggle against sin came to this conclusion one day: “For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it” (Romans 7:18). The truth is, we cannot do what is right by resorting to “fix” our external actions because the problem is not external, but internal; i.e. the heart. “...it is what comes out of a person that defiles. For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come…” (John 7:20, 21). Hence, Jesus approached the issue from another angle; i.e. he dealt with the heart. In other words what chains and shackles did not achieve, the Word of the Lord by the Spirit of God did! Jesus became like us (human) in every aspect and he lived a life without sin – not by the application of external “restriction” or law, but by the Spirit of God. In fact, Jesus came to fulfill the law. He then went on the cross to crucify and kill this flesh in which “nothing good dwells”. And because God chose us and destined us in Christ (Ephesians 1:4, 5), we were also crucified with Him! (Romans 6:6) Jesus then rose again from the dead because death could not hold Him in its power (Acts 2:24). And after Jesus was glorified, God poured out His same Spirit on us, so that we may live as His witnesses. “…it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2: 20). So how can we live a righteous life? – Only by faith in Christ. Beware of implementing “restrictions” on ourselves to overcome sin and then blaming God for its failure. “…the righteous shall live by faith” (Romans1:17). So then remember, “I can will what is right, but I cannot do it”.