The Place of Security and Blessing

Yesterday, my pastor's message was out of Matthew 14, the account where the disciples are sent by Jesus to Gennesaret, via a boat, immediately after Jesus feeds the five thousand.  Matthew tells us Jesus made them get into the boat, while He sent the crowds away.  He told the large group to go one direction, and His disciples to go ahead of Him, to the other side of the sea.  As they shove off, Jesus goes up on the mountain to pray.  The boat is a long way from the shore and is being battered by the waves that a contrary wind is whipping up - (which Jesus ordained, as Creator).  The disciples could have turned the boat around and headed back with the direction of the wind, but they kept to the course that Jesus had set them on.  So we find them in the midst of a storm, but also in the midst of obedience.  You know the rest of the story.  Jesus comes to them, walking on the water.  They are terrified, thinking He is a ghost.  When Peter hears His voice, "Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid," I think he recognizes it immediately as the Lord's, even though he questions Him.  Peter says to Jesus, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water."  Jesus commands Peter to come.  Peter continues with his obedience, steps out of the boat and walks on the water toward Jesus.

One of the things I love about Peter is that he wanted to be right where Jesus was.  I bet when Jesus and the disciples were walking down the road, Peter was either right beside Him, or right behind Him, and when Jesus stopped, Peter would run into the back of Jesus.  Peter had seen Jesus quiet a storm earlier while being in a boat with the disciples, He simply told the storm to be quiet.  Peter already had a measure of faith from that experience.  So here he sees Jesus walking on the water, in the midst of the storm, and once again he wants to be right with Him.  He exercises faith and gets out of the boat at Jesus command.

We know from the account, that at the moment Peter took His eyes off the Lord and placed them on his circumstances, his faith faltered.  Jesus said to Peter when he began sinking, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?"  But as Jesus said that, He reached out His hand to Peter and took hold of him.  When our faith falters, the grace of Jesus will never let it fail us completely.  Peter later went on to write in his first letter, that we are protected by the power of God through faith.  Our faith is a gift from God, which He builds and refines and burns the impurities out with various trials.  God cares about refining our faith like gold so that when we reach the end it is praised and gloried in and honored - and I think this attention will go straight to Jesus for He is the author and perfecter of our faith.  (Hebrews 12:2)

One of the truths of the story is to teach us that when a believer is in the place of obedience, no matter how severe the storm, we are as safe as if we were at home in our own bed, because the place of security is not the place of proper circumstances or of desirable circumstances.  The place of security, for the believer, is the place of obedience to the Lord.  An example is in the wife with a husband who is resisting God's call on his life, who is not loving his wife as Jesus loves the church, as a sacrificial-servant leader, and the sorrow and tumult this brings into the wife's life - the wife's security and blessing is not found in leaving him, or nagging him to do what God has revealed in His Word for him, but to do what God has revealed in His Word for her.  (1 Peter 3:1-6)


The miraculous happened for the disciples when in His presence, to demonstrate to them that He indeed was God in the flesh.  He can be trusted in the things that He asks for our obedience, even when we don't feel like it, and He is to be worshipped, which is what the disciples did after they saw the storm stop as soon as Jesus and Peter got into the boat.

Where have you been resisting obedience?  What circumstances are you keeping your attention on rather than the Creator Who is Lord over your circumstances?

Faith is believing the Word of God, and acting on it, no matter how we feel.  Our faith is strengthened when we place our eyes on Jesus and with every act of obedience when we feel like it, and when we don't.  We place ourselves in the path of God's blessing when we exercise our wills according to His Word.  We forfeit peace and joy and set ourselves up for depression and bitterness when we live according to our emotions.

I say this just as much to myself as I do you, my beloved readers - Let's fix our eyes on Jesus, remembering He has enclosed us behind and before and His hand is laid upon us.  (Psalm 139:5)

Be obedient, and be blessed and secure, in the midst of the storm.