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JESUS RIDES THE STORM
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11
Matthew 14:22-33

Psalm 93

 

“…Jesus went unto them,

walking on the sea.”

 

JESUS RIDES THE STORM
 
The Sea of Galilee was boisterous, but Jesus literally walked on the waves proving His deity and displaying His all-powerfulness.
 
The disciples were having a hard time rowing to shore because of the storm. About three in the morning, they saw a haunting figure approaching them. They thought it was a ghost, and became very frightened. Jesus reassured them that it was He. When Peter saw that it was the Lord, he asked Him for permission to walk on the water towards Him. Jesus told Peter to come. Peter stepped out, and lo and behold, he found himself walking on the water as long as he kept his eyes on Jesus. But soon, he allowed the winds and waves to distract him. When he started to doubt, he also started to sink. The Lord had to rescue him from drowning.
 
Why did Jesus grant Peter his wish? Calvin answered, “God often looks after us better by denying what we ask. But sometimes He gives way to us so as to convince us of our foolishness by experience. Thus by yielding to them more than is expedient He daily trains His believers in sobriety and moderation for the future. Add that this was profitable for Peter and the rest and is profitable for us today. Christ’s power shines forth more brightly in Peter when He makes him His comrade than if He had walked on the water alone. Yet Peter knew, and the others saw plainly, that because he did not abide in a firm faith and rest on the Lord’s Word the secret power of God which had made the water solid failed. But Christ deals kindly with him, for He did not want him to sink completely. Both these things concern us also. Just as Peter began to sink as soon as he was overtaken by fear, so our frail and transient fleshly ideas sometimes cause us to sink in the course of our activities. Yet the Lord pardons our weakness and stretches out His hand lest the waters should swallow us up. We must also observe that when Peter saw that his temerity had turned out badly, he committed himself to Christ’s mercy. Wherefore we also, even when we are suffering a punishment we deserve, must flee to Him to have mercy on us and give us the help we do not deserve.” (Source: https://www.oakleys. org.uk/blog/2020/08/calvin_on_peter_walking_on_the_water)
 
THOUGHT: “With Christ in the vessel, we can smile at the storm.”

PRAYER: Father, please calm the storms in my life.

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