Immediately . . . Immediately!
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Matthew 14:22-30
22. Then he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. 23. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24. but the boat by this time was many furlongs distant from the land, beaten by the waves; for the wind was against them. 25. And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. 26. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, "It is a ghost!" And they cried out for fear. 27. But immediately he spoke to them, saying, "Take heart, it is I; have no fear." 28. And Peter answered him, "Lord, if it is you, bid me come to you on the water." 29. He said, "Come." So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus; 30. but when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, "Lord, save me."
“Lord, save me.” These words resonate with me; how about you? We profess our faith. We do good deeds. We try to live the way we are supposed to. We believe, we pray, we go to church, we teach our children what they need to know. But when we hit a bump in the road, don’t we forget it all and call out, “Lord, save me”? Oh, we get out of the boat . . . and we even start walking across that water . . . but eventually it just gets to be more that we can handle. And we falter. We sink. We cry out.
People at this time believed ghosts or spirits that appeared at night foretold bad luck. That’s why they were so terrified. My bible notes explain that if these men had understood the “Feeding of the 5000” they would not have been afraid in this situation. I imagine they would have been amazed, but not surprised. They would have had a fleeting moment of panic, but then the relief of recognition and elation at receiving confirmation that yes, this man is really who he said he was. And we might ask ourselves how they could be so slow to grasp the truth. But when we look into ourselves and we begin to understand them.
How many times in our lives do we throw our leg over the side of that boat, and then change our minds? How often do we take those first few tentative steps, keeping our eye on the goal, but then look down, or look around—seeing all the scoffers and the doubters—and lose our nerve? Too often! With too much regularity! Of course, I’m speaking for myself! But we are so fortunate! Because when we read the next verse, verse 31, we find tremendous comfort: Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him.
Immediately. Not after he sank up to his knees, not when he was waist deep and sure it was all over . . .
Immediately.
Now that’s instant gratification! Put that on television and sell that! What do you need? What do you want? What is it worth to you? Throw your leg over the side! Take a walk! Don’t look down! Don’t look around! Keep your eye on the prize! And Jesus will be there, right next to you, ready to
immediately reach out and grab you the minute you begin to falter.
It’s hard to have a bad day when we keep this one word in mind! Jesus will immediately come to our aid. And he will consistently, faithfully, unfailingly, without condition or clause, immediately offer us his love, support, encouragement and strength. All we need to do is take that first step.
I hope today, you take a walk across the water. And that you keep your eye on Jesus, believing he will save you if you falter.
Mary
