Day 67 "God does not send us out to watch us fail; He sends us out that we might see Him succeed."

Day 67

Matthew 8:23-27 Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered by the waves. But He was asleep. Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, "Lord, save us! We are perishing!" But He said to them, "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?" Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. So the men marveled, saying, "Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?"

I truly believe that God placed this scripture in the Bible to encourage each and every one of us. After all, if these guys who saw all Jesus did firsthand were scared, then it's probably normal for us to be afraid at times as well. For all of their lives, these men had experienced firsthand the dangers of being on the Sea of Galilee, and they no doubt had seen others die or injured during such storms. As fishermen, they had been trained since childhood what to watch for and how to react when certain conditions existed upon the waters. Their instincts were telling them that they were in trouble; they were, after all, relying on what they knew to be true. However, the things they had seen Jesus do to this point were limited to people and spirits, and deep down those things could be reasoned away as coincidences or some other form of manipulation, but to control the wind and the waves now, that was unexplainable! That was miraculous; it went against everything they had ever known!

If you get sick, you take an herb; if someone is possessed, they’re just simpleminded, but when the sea is angry, you run–there is nothing else you can do! And yet, He calmed the sea, commanded the winds, saved their lives, and rebuked them for not having faith, all as if there were nothing going on at all. This should encourage us as well. If they can fail a faith test and receive a simple rebuke followed by rescue, well then, we should expect no less, right? I don't know about you, but generally when a storm arises in my life, my tendency is to panic and want to run or try to fix it. It usually takes a while before I remember to pray. Yet we all know that the first thing we should do is pray, give it to God, and trust that He is in control. You see, when we are fellowshipping with the Lord, communing with our God, and storms arise, we must have the faith to believe that He has allowed this storm for a particular reason; thus, in the end, all will be well. The greatest fear comes when we are not communing with, or are not particularly close to God when the storm comes, or when it is the result of missing the mark–sin. That's when the panic strikes. We wonder: “Have I finally made God mad enough to abandon me?” “Have I committed that last sin that allows forgiveness?” “Have I met my quota?” These are all questions that may run through our minds. However, even then, God is with us and forgives us; there is no cap on His grace, no limit to His mercy. If we repent and seek Him, He is just to forgive us. However, there is always consequence for sin, and while He will rescue us from the boat, our clothes will still be wet. God does not send us out to watch us fail; He sends us out so that we can see Him succeed!

Daily Prayer: Father, give us the faith to trust you in every aspect of our lives, to know You are there even when we can't see you, and when everything we know to be true keeps us from faith, help us to let go and grab hold of you. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

"God does not send us out to watch us fail; He sends us out that we might see Him succeed."

Pastor Gene Burroughs