45 And
straightway he constrained his disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the
other side before unto Bethsaida, while he sent away the people.
48 And he saw
them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them: and about the
fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would
have passed by them.
50 For they all
saw him, and were troubled. And immediately he talked with them, and saith unto
them, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid.
51 And he went
up unto them into the ship; and the wind ceased: and they were sore amazed in
themselves beyond measure, and wondered.
This block of verses describes when
Jesus sent the disciples to go to the other side of the Sea of Galilee while He
sent the multitude away. The
disciples get caught in a headwind and Christ walks on the water to them and the
wind ceased.
This incident seemed like an odd one at
first glance. It seemed like Jesus
decided to walk on the water as an extra convenience or to show the apostles
what He could do. But I thought,
“No, when Jesus does a miracle, He does it for a useful purpose.” So I tried to see what purpose it could
have served.
Right away I noticed that the apostles
were doing what Jesus had specifically asked them to do—take a ship to the
other side. Some of them were
experienced boatmen, so this should have been an easy command to obey,
right? But it so happened that circumstances
were against them—there was a contrary wind and they had to struggle against
that for quite a while. I think
Jesus watched their progress and their difficulty and had compassion on them
and walked out there to help them out.
I think it also was meant to teach them
that even if they were inadequate in certain circumstances for a task He had
set them, He would be with them and help them succeed in a miraculous way. They could have gathered his from the
earlier miracle of the loaves and fishes, but they didn’t think about
that. (I wonder how many times we
marvel at a miracle when we’ve had previous miracles that should have taught us
the same lesson?)
After noticing this, I really love this
story because I see it in my own life.
There are things I consider myself fairly expert at, yet sometimes when
I’m in the middle of trying to do them, I find circumstances against me and I
struggle much more than usual.
This story shows me that there is no need to think less of myself for
that. Rather, I can look to the
Lord who watches all my efforts, and I can still pray and get divine help. He will have compassion and help me
without upbraiding me.
1 comments:
I agree Micheala
I love this record,there is so much here we can apply to our own lives. I had the impression that this "walk" was more than just Jesus walking out to those men. I am curious as to why only Peter was brave enough, and had faith enough to walk out. It seems that Peter is always remembered for looking at the waves and wind, but Peter can be likened to those Nephites who after the 3 days and nights of chaos, those fair ones who were spared, they had faith "sufficient" to qualify to meet the Savior. From where we stand in our present, we see those Nephites barely clinging to their faith to make it through the night, we judge Peter because, wasn't it obvious that all he had to do was look at the Savior and keep on walking. Even the children of Israel,most of them could not look at the serpent on Moses staff and live.
When Peter started to sink, the Savior was right there in an instant to pick him up, after all Peter could do.
Thank you for this post, it blessed my heart and I am so glad that we have a loving Savior who looks past our weakness's and helps us to keep going.
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