When it came to fear and faith, Jesus was a laser-beam with his disciples. He never let up. Listen to what he said long after the walking on water event:
Afterward the disciples asked Jesus privately, “Why couldn’t we cast out that demon?” “You don’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.” Matthew 17:19-20 (NLT)
Then Jesus told them, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and don’t doubt, you can do things like this and much more. You can even say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. You can pray for anything, and if you have faith, you will receive it.” Matthew 21:21-22 (NLT)
He was still dealing with faith. Do you have enough faith? Concerning the mustard seed statement, John MacArthur put it this way: “True faith, by Christ’s definition, always involves surrender to the will of God. What He was teaching here is nothing like positive-thinking psychology. He was saying that both the source and the object of all genuine faith—even the weak, mustard-seed variety—is God. And “with God nothing will be impossible” (Luke 1:37).”[1]
The disciples were learning that no matter how much they learned or how much they grew, they always had to rely on Jesus when ministering to others. Good lesson for us. How often do we say, “Okay Lord, I can handle it from here…” only to become disillusioned or bewildered and asking ourselves “what went wrong?”
Sometimes the storms of life come because of our poor decisions and disobedience. But the “walk on water” storm came because they did obey Jesus. They did exactly as he said… and the storm came.
As Jesus constantly dealt with the disciples on issues of faith and fear, maybe he was setting the foundation of the church. The church is God’s “Plan A.” In fact, there is no “Plan B.” Maybe God allows storms in your life so that you can be a vital part of His plan.
So what is the storm in your life? A more important question: Why do you think it is there?
For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.” Hebrews 13:5b (NLT)
[1]MacArthur, J. (1989). Matthew (83). Chicago: Moody Press.
