This morning as I was doing the daily posts to The Daily Walk‘s Facebook page, a theme began to develop that I have felt led to continue into today’s discipleship study. Today, there are Christians out there who are struggling through the storms, they are wandering through the valleys, or maybe feeling like their entire life is on trial. It is at these times when we feel the most forsaken, alone, unloved by our fellow Christian and at times, we can even feel abandoned by God. It’s hard to remember the promise, Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee (Hebrews 13:5) when it seems no one cares.
The apostle Peter learned this lesson the hard way and in the storm of his own choosing. The story begins as Peter and the disciples see Jesus walking across the Sea of Galilee to meet them as they journeyed across. The account, as recorded in the book of Matthew, tells of the apostles debating if it were a spirit or some other entity and not Jesus. As Jesus identifies himself to the men in the boat, And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? (Matthew 14:28-31). Although Peter had chosen this trial his own self, he still took his eyes off the Lord Jesus Christ and and not depending upon his faith in God, he chose to rely on his own understanding. It was only when he became broken and cried out for deliverance that Jesus restored him.
It is easy in these times to take our eyes off the Lord Jesus Christ. Almost all the storms I have faced in my life since surrendering to Christ has been because I chose the storm or the valley. At first, I had a hard time admitting that many of the circumstances I found myself in were because of my own doing and not some test or tribulation sent to try my faith. It is too easy for Christians to excuse the consequences of their sins and claim that God had let these things happen as a means of testing our faith. Yes, as a Christian, God does forgive us when we do fail him; we have His promises: My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous (I John 2:1), If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (I John 1:9), and As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us (Psalms 103:12). But just because the sin is forgiven does not mean that we still will not have the repercussions of those sins. Even though Jesus lifted Peter from the depths of the waves and restored him to the sea’s surface does not mean that Peter’s shoes and clothes were made dry. He still had to bear the wet clothing that was the results of his doubts.
I am not saying that every storm we encounter is because of choices we have made. There are some that we will endure that will be nothing more than tests of our faith. Several are recorded in the Bible – Paul and Silas, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Job, and Abraham all had their faith tested. Each one was victorious and have something in common – the storm was a test of faith that brought glory and honor to God. We learn not only about ourselves, but we learn that God does not abandon us during our times of need. He waits for us to call out and look: God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble (Psalms 46:1). It is during these times of storms and tribulations – ones that were not caused by our indulging of the flesh – that God’s glory is made visible to all. It should be these times that we easily choose to call upon God yet many of us still rather try our own solutions and come to the end of ourselves before we call upon God to deliver us from these times.
Whether it is a storm of our own making or one that is sent to try us, the one thing that is the same is that God has not moved. He is still there, with an outstretched hand offered to us if we will only reach out to Him.
