Did you ever wonder why Jesus had to make the disciples go into the bed to go ahead of Him to the other side? The New Living Translation used a stronger word: He insisted that his disciples get back into the boat and cross to the other side of the lake, while he sent the people home. Jesus did this because He knew what He was about to do later on.
v23 So He sent the multitudes away and He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. After ministering to the multitudes, He went back to the secret place of intimacy with God the Father. He withdrew Himself, as He did often, to spend time with the Father. The Bible said that Jesus did nothing of His own; everything that He did was done according to what God the Father had said. He was spending time with God so that He would hear from Him what to do next.
As He was praying alone, the disciples' boat was in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves. They were having tough time sailing through the sea. Mark 6:48 said, "Then He [Jesus] saw them straining at rowing, for the wind was against them. Now about the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea, and would have passed them by."
Jesus would have passed them by -- that means He was very much adept at walking on water, and He was able to walk fast even though there was a storm at sea. It also meant that He was the help coming to the disciples, but if they were focusing so much on the storm that they didn't see Him coming, He would have passed them by. He was the present help that they needed, but if they didn't recognise Him, the miracle would have just passed them by.
The disciples saw Jesus, but they almost let Him pass by because they didn't recognise He was Jesus. They were troubled, saying, "It is a ghost!" And they cried out for fear. (v26) Instead of knowing that He is the Lord God, Tuhan (in Malay = God), they thought the other way round and called Him "Hantu" (in Malay = ghost).
To the disciples it was perhaps like this: "Man, we're in this boat-sinking roaring storm because Jesus 'forced' us to get into the boat. Now, if we didn't get into the boat to get to the other side, we probably don't need to go through this! Just how much worse can the situation be? (Suddenly sees Jesus walking on water) *gasp!* It's a GHOST!!"
Sometimes when we are facing difficult situations and circumstances in life, we can be so desperate for the Lord to show up, to the point that we don't recognise that the Lord has already shown up or that He is in control of the situation. Worse still, if we don't guard our hearts, we would be complaining and seeing all the negativity of the situation, i.e., seeing ghosts, seeing only ghost and not God.
Praise God that at this moment, Jesus showed grace to the disciples. v27 He said to them, "Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid." The Amplified Bible translated it as "Take courage! I AM! Stop being afraid!" Jesus was showing Himself as The Great I AM.
Isn't this a great picture of who our God is? When The Lord revealed Himself as the I AM to Moses, He was saying, "I am He who was, and who is and who is to come. I am the one you've been searching for. I am the Everlasting God, I am the Almighty, I am all you need. I AM." There were times I find myself praying or worshiping and I would say "You are, You are, You are Lord, You are..." But many times our minds ask us, "He is what? What do you mean I AM?" I realised that if you ask it this way, you won't see Him, His being, because our mental understanding tells us that the sentence is incomplete, i.e. You are..... (what?) Yet, our hearts can understand and connect to God, that He truly is (the Lord).So Jesus was saying to them, I am He! I am God, not ghost! I am all that you need, I am THE LORD.
If we, in any situation that we face, can readily recognise that God is in control of the situation, we will not turn our sight to look at all the negative things in the situation. We will instead set our eyes and hearts and our entire focus on God. When Jesus shows up, all the other things become dim as shadows in the light of His glory and grace.
The account of Jesus walking on water is to me like life's journey. The Lord sends us ahead of Him, before His second coming, but He never has us off His mind, and He is determined to show up in our every day situations. When He comes, He doesn't just want to pass us by and leave us still deep in the problem, but to help us recognise we don't need to struggle; we just need to acknowledge that HE IS. Many times, God tells me that I don't need to struggle, because struggle is a form of work -- you're doing it by your own strength, labouring in vain. But when we acknowledge that He is THE LORD, He gives us rest and peace of heart as He takes over and set things right. As Pastor Joseph Prince said, when we look to Him and see all that He is and has for us, He sees us in our faith, and that pleases Him.
Verse to Remember:
Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths
He is the solution to every need, the answer to every question.
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