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Safe Harbor Church |
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Pastor Norm Labonte |
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Pastor Norm and his lovely wife Sandi. |
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From the Pastor |
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The story in Matthew 14 of Jesus walking on the water is in my mind’s eye one of the most amazing events ever recorded. It begins with a seemingly normal command from the Lord for his disciples to return to Capernaum in the same boat with which they had gotten to the place where the 5,000 men, plus women and children, had been fed. That miracle must have been all they could talk about as they gathered their baskets, one for each of them, that had been filled with the fragments from the feast Jesus had produced and they had distributed. Most of them were quite used to the sea of Galilee, and were expert boatmen, but even they were no match for the onslaught of waves that began to crash down on them as they made their way to the distant shore. It was several hours into the night, in the “midst of the sea”, when terror filled their souls. The sea of Galilee is situated such that winds blasting through the narrow passes of the bordering mountains can suddenly create devastatingly dangerous squalls, and any boat caught in the middle of the sea during such a storm could easily be overturned. These men were not thinking about the miracle of the loaves and fish now. They were thinking about water and land, and I’m certain they had a strong preference for terra firma.
What happened next seems to have frightened them even more than the storm around them. They could handle that onslaught with courage and knowledge and a little faith in God. Matthew tells us that they all became frightened at what they saw. It was Jesus, once again doing the impossible, walking on the waves as though they were a solid pathway to the boat. “Don’t be afraid”, he said. Right!
A little faith in God was needed to fight the storm. A little faith in God was what Peter had when he asked Jesus to let him walk on the same pathway as his Lord. And Jesus said, “Come”. That little dialog is powerful. It hints at one of the most profound truths of scripture: God is willing to let us walk, by faith, to Him. All that is required is for us to keep our eyes on Jesus. Peter succeeded in doing the impossible because he stepped out of the boat by faith. But, just like most of us, he set his eyes on the turmoil around him and began to sink. How grateful he must have been to feel his master’s firm grip as he pulled him out of the depths. “Oh, ye of little faith”, was our Lord’s response.
He’s reaching out in like fashion to you today, saying “Let me help you”. Oh, ye of little faith, set your gaze upon Jesus and walk upon the waves with Him. |