True Faith

Matthew 15

Jesus told them to go ahead of him. He dismissed the 5000 people that he just fed with 2 loaves and 3 fish. He just did that. He showed how powerful and miraculous that he is...in front of the disciples. They witnessed it. They watched it. They saw it all. And here they are, on the boat, they see a figure walking toward them on the water. It must be a ghost, they say. And the voice of the Lord calls out to them, “Do not be afraid, it is I.” Peter walks on the water toward Jesus and the storms start to come and fear takes over him. He begins to sink. Fear knocks him down.

After witnessing a miracle, Peter falls. He falls from fear. He is overtaken by fear and he is down. He saw the Lord do incredible things, not once, not twice, but many times. And even so, he loses faith in the Lord. It is such a human reaction. We see God do so many things in our lives. We see him work in us, we see miracles, we feel the Spirit of the Lord upon us and yet we fall from fear all the time. We allow fear to over take our lives and hurt the faith that we have in the Lord.

As I read through this, I think about the other day as we were driving out here to California. While we were driving, we were almost on empty. We were in the middle of the desert and the GPS said that the closest gas station was about 20 miles away. Fear started to fill the car, but I could only have faith. We serve a mighty God who can do anything. I have seen him do miracles. I have seen him change lives. I have seen him work and why would I doubt him in such a time? As we drove, I started to pray...not out of fear, but out of faith. I started to pray that God would bring us upon a gas station. I was praying that he would lead us in the right path. That he would provide. I knew that God had our back and that he was going to keep us safe.

This is just one of the many times that I have encountered faith and fear, however. To be completely and totally honest, faith is not always the winner. In fact, faith is less likely way too often. It has become easier for me to let fear take over. When living in fear, I do not have to worry about being tried or tested. I do not have to worry about being stretched and pushed. It is easier, I just get to complain and whine and do nothing about it. However, I have learned that faith is so much better. It is so much more fulfilling. It is so much more satisfying. It feeds our hunger in ways that nothing else can. Faith is such a beautiful thing. With faith, we can do all things, who wouldn’t want that?