Matthew 14
His disciples came, and took up the body, and buried it, and went and told Jesus, Matthew 14:12.
WHEN one dies in our home, and our hearts are breaking, we should go and tell Jesus. It will do us good to tell Him. We may not care to tell our trouble to any human friend. Some sorrows are too sacred to be unveiled to any eyes. But we need never shrink from telling Jesus. He can understand our grief, for He knows all human pain, not alone as God, but as man, for He experienced all sorrow. He will treat our sorrow, too, with most delicate gentleness. The very words spoken in love to comfort us fall ofttimes with rude impact upon our bruised heart and give fresh pain. The gentlest touch of a human hand hurts where it is meant to help. But the voice of Jesus is so gentle that its tones fall like soothing music on the quivering heart, and the hand of Jesus is so skilful that its touch gives healing. We need never fear to tell Jesus of our sorrow: He is the truest Comforter and the wisest Healer of hurt hearts. --JR Miller
WHEN one dies in our home, and our hearts are breaking, we should go and tell Jesus. It will do us good to tell Him. We may not care to tell our trouble to any human friend. Some sorrows are too sacred to be unveiled to any eyes. But we need never shrink from telling Jesus. He can understand our grief, for He knows all human pain, not alone as God, but as man, for He experienced all sorrow. He will treat our sorrow, too, with most delicate gentleness. The very words spoken in love to comfort us fall ofttimes with rude impact upon our bruised heart and give fresh pain. The gentlest touch of a human hand hurts where it is meant to help. But the voice of Jesus is so gentle that its tones fall like soothing music on the quivering heart, and the hand of Jesus is so skilful that its touch gives healing. We need never fear to tell Jesus of our sorrow: He is the truest Comforter and the wisest Healer of hurt hearts. --JR Miller
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Matthew 14:23:
And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone. |
 Costen Harrell
There is reason to fear that we are forgetting how to meditate. The haste of our modern life militates against it. We love the garish day. Much of Christianity is a sickly bloom because we have no quiet place in which the roots of faith may grow. We meet the day's temptations before we are ready for them. We undertake to lead others before we have mastered ourselves. We try to force the bloom before we have rooted ourselves in Jesus Christ. Return, O soul, to the secret place and linger there. A godly life, like the flowers, is rooted in the shadows to bloom in the night."
-Costen Harrell; Walking With God; 1928 |
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Matthew 14:25-33:
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, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear. 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” 28 And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to 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.” 31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.” |
"Lord save me!" is one of the best and shortest prayers ever. It was direct to the point and if it had been any longer he might have drowned.
Peter was definitely not qualified to walk on water, no human is, yet Christ call to him, “Come.” Peter does and his flesh fails him, but it is in this moment of weakness that his faith is made stronger. No longer does Peter wonder, but he knows. “Lord, save me,” he cries. They board the boat and the disciples worship Jesus, declaring that he is indeed the son of God.
Michael Card, in his commentary on Matthew writes: ” The miracle? The ‘if’ of verse 28 has disappeared completely. The deeper truth of this story is that often sinking is more important than walking, more life-changing, more transformational.” -Kristin J |