Focal Point

Matthew 14:^22&24 “Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away.  But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary.”

Our focus scripture over the next few days is Matthew 14:22-29. In this passage, Jesus sent His disciples to the other side and midway, they encountered a storm. The storm was raging, the disciples were already in trouble, and Jesus came to them walking on water. This is important because Jesus didn’t just walk on the sea, He walked on the stormy sea. I read this scripture and thought to myself that if I had the power to walk on water and command storms. I will most likely command the storm to stop before I walk on the sea. Not Jesus; He just walked straight into the storm. Why didn’t Jesus tell the storm to stop?

The reason is that with Jesus, it doesn’t matter if there is a storm or not. We are the ones who worry about storms. If you see a storm brewing in your life, you typically would be concerned. However, Jesus doesn’t seem to be bothered by storms. Remember that in Matthew 8:23-27 (please read), this same Jesus was sleeping in the boat during a storm. The storm didn’t even bother Him. And in this case, He just walked into the storm, completely ignoring the storm. The question is, could it be that we pay too much attention to the storms in our lives? Could it be that, learning from Jesus, we should just ignore some storms?

And my conclusion is that storm or no storm, Jesus remains King. Jesus is King regardless of the storms. David puts it this way in Psalm 139:¹² “Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, but the night shines as the day; The darkness and the light are both alike to You.” (NKJV). As far as God is concerned, whether dark or bright, it doesn’t affect His vision or His manoeuvring. He is God all by Himself, whether there is a storm or the sea is calm. Jesus just walked on the water into the storm. As a child of God, you should not fret about storms. We are told that eagles fly straight into the storms, and that is what differentiates eagles from other birds.

Matthew 14:²⁸ “And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” (NKJV, emphasis added). Peter did not just say Tell me, he said Command me. The truth is that Jesus must have been commanding Peter on the little things before it got to the big things. We often want God to command us on the big things, but we ignore God on the little things. Peter could say command me because he had obeyed in the little things. Matthew 14:²⁹ “So He said, “Come.” And… he walked on the water to go to Jesus.” (NKJV)

Prayer: Father, help me to focus on You and not the storms and empower me to obey You on every matter, in the Mighty Name of Jesus. Amen!