God of Unimaginable Miracles
Passage to read: Matthew 14:22-33
“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
“Come,” he said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.
But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him.
“You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
(Matthew 14: 28 - 31)
As you begin to read this devotion, I know your heart has already listed a few - yearnings of your heart. And I know very well, that most of these yearnings are beyond the human limitations. Maybe, that's how we have understood miracles. We know, deep in our hearts, that there nothing impossible to God. Even those that are not possible with humans, is surely possible with God. But how many of us really believe the miraculous fact that God is able to do the impossible in our lives? Are we people of little faith? Do we doubt God?
One of the most important and life-changing questions that Jesus asked any of His disciples - “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” I know, the whispers of the same question is lingering around many of our hearts today. Jesus is asking the same question to us. On that day, Peter would have, probably, trembled, holding the hands of the Lord, amidst the waves. As this question was asked at him, Peter would have been speechless, not realising what had just happened. But, we have no excuse! How many times have we come across this passage, but isn't it a sad thing to realise that this question is still lingering around us? We of little faith, why do we doubt?
A lot of us are happy with the things in our lives when all goes well. We give thanks to God and say proclaim that He had done this for us. But when the strong winds begin to disorient things, when the waves keep hitting on the hull of our boat called life, we do stumble. We question the entire existence of God. We twist. We turn. We shout. We cry out. We seek all the other immediate and possible options to get rid of it, except God. We keep God as the back-up plan. And finally, when everything fades away, when we realise nothing will help, we realise the presence of the Saviour that has been there with us right from the beginning. We begin to acknowledge His existence in the midst of us. And then, we take time to realise that He was there always and we never acknowledged His presence. Did we forget that our Lord is a God of unimaginable miracles?
There are two life-changing lessons we could learn from this not-so-common encounter between Jesus and Peter. As we begin to search for these two lessons, let me remind you that these lessons are powerful. These were lessons that made Peter (meaning 'rock') so strong in faith, that later in their walk of discipleship, Jesus told him "you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church" (Matthew 16:18). Both of our lessons on faith begin with the question that Jesus asked. Probably, the same whisper is around you.
Firstly, why is our faith little? A lot of times, we find, we trust God with the little things in our lives, but we doubt Him with the 'impossible.' When people say "that is impossible you see," our heart loses everything that it had built on God. We nod our heads in agreement with them and regret inside for being so impractical. But, my dear friend in Christ, let me encourage you this day to start trusting God with the big things! Trust Him with the impossible. Trust Him with the impractical. Trust Him big. Let your faith be big in Him. Our Lord our God in whom we trust is not a God of little things. Our is a God of strange, grand, marvellous and unimaginable possibilities and miracles. And when you trust Him with the big things, He does big things in our lives. Whatever was impossible with humans is, indeed, possible with God. Because, He is God! We are bound by limitations, but our God is not. He is immeasurable and beyond human understanding. God made a nation through the so-called 'barren' Abraham and Sarah, God who made the way through the desert and brought the Israelites to the promised land, God who made the little David to stand against and gain victory over the giant Goliath, God who saved Daniel from the jaws of the lions, God who blessed five loaves of bread and two fishes to five thousand people, God who came four days late according to the humans but just on time for Lazarus to come out of the darkness of death, God who made Saul to become Paul and to be the disciple to the gentiles, is just near you! Expand your faith. Have a big faith in God. And God loves it when you believe in Him beyond your imaginations and limitations.
Secondly, why do we doubt Him? Sometimes it is very saddening to see that we doubt the Lord. Even after our dreams have been big, our imaginations looked possible, even though we had a big faith, when the moments arrive, we tend to doubt. So many sermons, so many assurances, so many miracles and thus many testimonies. But, we know, when the world around us is not in a stable condition, when our situations are troublesome, when there is a delay, when the clock keeps ticking towards the moment, we tend to doubt. We begin to doubt what God had promised. Our big faith, like a balloon that is diffusing, becomes small. This happens when we begin to doubt. The words come out "Maybe," "may not be," "maybe not this time, some other." Let us keep our big faith until the last moment, and that last moment is when our eyes see what the Lord has done. That moment is when our senses realise that God has given us what He promised. That last moment is when you see that God has blessed you in multiples than what you asked for.
Peter, had faith in his master, but a little faith. And because of that little faith, when he saw the waves, when the surroundings overcame, he started doubting the miraculous Lord who was standing near him, but beyond the waves. We stumble. We struggle through hard times. But let ourselves be assured in the Lord. Let us acknowledge the presence of the mighty Lord who is amongst us, and let us not doubt His miraculous ways even in the midst of the worst conditions. But God is able to do the unimaginable miracles in our lives. Let us trust Him, and let it be big.
I pray that the Lord will guide all of us, to have the faith in him, beyond possibilities and practicalities, and let never ever doubt His mighty and wonderful ways. Our Lord is a God of Unimaginable Miracles and He is amongst us to help us. Let the presence of the Lord Jesus and the guidance of the Holy Spirit lead us throughout.
May God bless you.
Yours in Christ,
