In this miracle no one is in trouble and there’s no rescue. Rather we see Jesus revealing His glory. Recall Exodus 33:19 when God “passed them by”. Recall the burning bush when God revealed himself as “I AM”, just as Jesus refers to himself in vs. 50 (literally “don’t be afraid, for I AM”). His action is clearly God-like yet He is trying to relate his power to their situation. They need to believe and trust. The best way to train them is to remind them of who He is, Creator, Lord and Sustainer of all the material world. Recall also Job 9:8 “He alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea. God led Israel out through the sea.” (“treads on the waves of the sea… though your footprints were not seen.”) Now Jesus Christ treads on the waves. This is a clear identification of Jesus with the Lord God himself.
Perhaps The reason the Lord may send you into a storm is to show you his character, power and provision and ultimately) to comfort you.
While out walking my dog this morning, I was trying to practice mindfulness. I had a great adventure in my ½ mile walk around my neighborhood. Towards the end, I had been observing all the limbs that the weight of the snow had brought down around the edge of the yard across the street. We have many large pine trees lining our properties, courtesy of the developer some 25 years ago. Many of the mighty evergreens lost branches in the second storm, which had a phase, somewhere in the middle of the pile up, that included sleet and wet heavy snow followed by wind.
ReplyDeleteI was noticing that the branches that were lost were mostly the bigger, lower branches. They could not handle the snow and ice’s weight followed up by the wind of the storm. Such as shame, I thought, because they are nice shields for the properties. I began to notice that some of the lower branches were left intact, which I thought odd. Until I noticed that they grew up heavenward into the tree and not straight out into the world like their brothers that were lost. It occurred to me that this reinforces that we need to grow heavenward – not out into the world, least the weight of storms break us.
We need to focus on growing up – heavenward. We can do this by taking the courage offered, He is here, no need to be afraid. We need to recognize the miracles around us – soften our hearts so that we can take it in.
I love how you, Pastor Jeff, have been encouraging us to be mindful. Mindful of special moments provided by God, that can slip by unnoticed in a hectic, busy world that symbolizes the branches growing outward toward the world. I hope that I continue to grow heavenward in the knowledge that He is here, and remain unafraid and ever observant for the everyday miracles.
Thanks for sharing Ruth Ann - a wonderful testimony of your walk with our LORD
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