His Idea

CBN.com "He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber." --- Psalms 121:3ClosePsalms 121:3 He will not let you stumble;  the one who watches over you will not slumber. OPEN VERSE IN BIBLE (nlt)

Read It: Matthew 14:22-24CloseMatthew 14:22-24 Immediately after this, Jesus insisted that his disciples get back into the boat and cross to the other side of the lake, while he sent the people home. After sending them home, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell while he was there alone. Meanwhile, the disciples were in trouble far away from land, for a strong wind had risen, and they were fighting heavy waves. OPEN VERSE IN BIBLE (nlt)

God's Word has some great lessons for us in this classic story of a trial-by-storm the disciples underwent. We'll deal with it the rest of this week , because I don't want to shortchange you on the good stuff God wants to teach us.

Notice first that Christ controls the very existence of a trial. Matthew says, "He made the disciples get into the boat" (my emphasis). This whole trip was Jesus' idea, not theirs. The disciples wanted to stay where they were, because Jesus had just miraculously fed five thousand men. The disciples liked this action.

See, they were just like the crowd who wanted to make Jesus their "welfare" King. As we saw last week, Jesus wanted no part of it. But from the disciples' standpoint, this king business sounded like a good idea. But what the disciples wanted and what they needed were two different things. They wanted royalty, but what they got was a rowboat in a storm, because that's what Jesus wanted them to have.

So there were the disciples being battered by the waves and wind. The harder they rowed in one direction, the harder the wind pushed in the other direction. Mark pictures them "straining at the oars" (Mark 6:48CloseMark 6:48 He saw that they were in serious trouble, rowing hard and struggling against the wind and waves. About three o'clock in the morning* Jesus came toward them, walking on the water. He intended to go past them, OPEN VERSE IN BIBLE (nlt) ). These boys were sweating. And they didn't even want to be out there.

Are you in a storm today? Can you feel the wind pushing against you? You say, "Tony, I'm not only in a storm, but I'm being pushed backwards."

I hear you. I've been in those kinds of trials too. The first thing I want to tell you about trials is that for a Christian, there is no such thing as random, pointless trials. If Jesus sent you into the storm, His authority is reigning over it even though it may be raining on you.

If you are in trial, God has a point to it. God can even hit the target with a crooked arrow. He can take a trial caused by our sin and failure and still make something out of it. The power and authority of Christ are not threatened by trials.

Think About It

Since that rowboat ride was Jesus' idea, He must have known what He was doing -- just like He knows what He's doing in your life today.