CBN.com"He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber." --- Psalms 121:3
He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber.
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Read It: Matthew 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.
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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 6:48
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,
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). 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.
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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.
Read It: Matthew 14:25-27
About three o'clock in the morning* Jesus came toward them, walking on the water. When the disciples saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. In their fear, they cried out, "It's a ghost!" But Jesus spoke to them at once. "Don't be afraid," he said. "Take courage. I am here!*"
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By the time Jesus came to the disciples in their trial, it was late -- and dark. But He came right on time with the word they needed. That's what He wants to do for you, too. Let me show you three ways Christ can encourage you in your trials.
First, because Jesus is God, He knows exactly where you are, and He can find you even in the dark. By now the disciples had been out in the boat about twelve hours without Jesus. So it wasn't when the storm hit that Jesus showed up, but He did show up. He may not have come when they wished He would, but He came on time.
Have you ever been in the middle of a trial and wondered where Jesus was? You've been out there on the stormy sea fighting for your life, and no Jesus. No problem -- at least not for Him. He'll arrive on time.
Second, remember that what you see is not necessarily all there is. What the disciples thought was a "sho-nuff" serious problem, a ghost coming out to scare them, turned out to be their salvation in the Person of Jesus.
The very thing that could be looking like the worst possible problem for you may be the thing the Savior uses to deliver you. What you may see as a source of great fear may be God's way of saying, "Take courage." Trials have a way of clouding your vision so that you may not really be seeing what you think you're seeing. That's why you must always look for Christ.
A third source of encouragement in trials is Jesus' authoritative word, "Do not be afraid." See, He did not change the disciples' circumstance. He changed them. He did not deal with what they were facing on the outside. He first calmed them down on the inside.
Jesus will do the same for you in your trials. Your circumstances are no sweat for Him. He can walk right over the top of your storm, because He's bigger than your problem. He wants you to learn that you can face the enemy on the outside because Jesus is with you on the inside.
Think About It
Jesus has you on His radar screen, and He will come just when you need Him. And He has no problem getting to you.
"Why do you call me, 'Lord,Lord,' and do not do what I say?" --Luke 6:46
"So why do you keep calling me `Lord, Lord!' when you don't do what I say?
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Read It: John 6:14-15
When the people saw him* do this miraculous sign, they exclaimed, "Surely, he is the Prophet we have been expecting!"* When Jesus saw that they were ready to force him to be their king, he slipped away into the hills by himself.
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If you want to know why more people don't see God at work in their circumstances, all you have to do is read today's text. After Jesus had fed the multitude, the people said, "This has got to be Messiah. He's the one. Get Him! He's going to be our King whether He likes it or not. Anyone who can take sardines and crackers and turn them into Moby Dick sandwiches ought to be King!" We are talking welfare like you've never seen it before.
But Jesus withdrew. He was not interested in being their "Sugar Daddy." He was not interested in being their new welfare system. He's not interested in being yours either, by the way. Jesus is interested in building the kingdom of God. If all you want from Jesus is His goodies, He's going to do with you like He did with the crowd in His day. He will withdraw from you.
See, Jesus does not hang out with people who want His benefits but don't want a relationship. He's not going to walk with people who get up in the morning and say, "Lord, give me what I need today," but never get around to, "Lord, make me what you want me to be today."
He's also not excited about people who say, "Lord, give me recognition on my job even though I'm too ashamed to give You glory among my co-workers"; or, "Lord, give me more money in my pocket even though I can't make any available to Your kingdom"; or, "Lord, sharpen my skills even though I won't use them for Your kingdom."
If that's the way you pray, God may help you out a time or two like He did the people in Jesus' day. But over the long haul, if you only want a welfare relationship with God, He won't hang out with you, because He came to be your King of Kings and Lord of Lords, not your spiritual Sugar Daddy.
God wants a relationship with you. When you come to Him for Him alone, then you will see Him overcome the insurmountable circumstances in your life. If we are going to be the people of God, a people He can bless and use, we've got to do it His way.
Think About It
Do you want Jesus or just His goodies?
From Time to Get Serious by Tony Evans, copyright 1995. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, Illinois 60187. You can order this book or others by Tony Evans on Shop CBN.
"We also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance." --Romans 5:3
We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance.
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Read It: James 1:2-4
Dear brothers and sisters,* when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.
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If you're not in the middle of a trial right now, just hang around. None of us can dodge trials. So we need to find out the resources God has given us to deal with trials.
What is a trial, anyway? It's an adverse circumstance that God allows or even brings about in the lives of us His children to deepen our faith. We'll see this week that trials are not designed to sink our boat, but to help us improve our navigation skills. In the words of the Apostles Paul and James, we can actually rejoice when we undergo trials, because we know God is doing something special in our lives.
Now trials can come from a number of directions. Sometimes God sends you a trial to teach you a specific lesson. At other times, it comes simply because you live in a sin-cursed world, and the curse rubs off on you. So you become the victim of a crime or accident or illness that crashes into your life.
Sometimes trials are the result of your own sin. You yield to a temptation that leads to a set of circumstances that are tough to deal with. And don't forget that the enemy can attack you with trials for the purpose of bringing about your spiritual defeat.
So my concern is not so much the source of your trials, but what you do when they show up. How you respond to cataclysmic circumstances has a lot to do with what shape you're in when you come out on the other side. The good news is, you're not out there alone, because no matter what the source of your trial is, God has the situation well in hand. He can work out His purposes even in a trial you may bring on yourself.
One great way to learn how to deal with trials is to watch others in the middle of one. So starting tomorrow, we'll get into a boat with the disciples and row out to the middle of the Sea of Galilee. Stay with me, and you'll learn that even when your boat starts to rock, Jesus Christ has authority over your trials.
Think About It
You're either in the middle of a trial, just coming out of one, or just heading into one. Better be ready!
From Time to Get Serious by Tony Evans, copyright 1995. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, Illinois 60187. You can order this book or others by Tony Evans on Shop CBN.
