And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, it is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.  But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, “Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid”.  And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou; bid me come unto thee on the water.  And he said, Come.  And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.  But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid: and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. 

And immediately Jesus stretched for his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?  And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased, then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, of a truth thou art the Son of God.

Some times when we read the Bible, I think we read it out of duty.  It’s something that we as Christians know we should do.  But those times when we are reading it out of duty; we quickly skim over the words, not allowing what the Bible is saying to sink in.  It takes studying the Bible, searching the scriptures, and meditating on the Word of God for us to get hold of what the Author is saying. 

I think all of us as Disciples of Christ, can relate to this story of the storm on the Sea of Galilee, to some of the storms of life that we face today.  But I also think that these storms come to make us more aware of our dependence upon God.  There is no way of learning faith except by trial.  And the storms of life are Gods school of faith.  It teaches us to trust.

I have read this passage of scripture so many times before, yet in my minds eye I still picture a little row boat with a couple of disciples on board, out on a lake trying to make it to shore in the rain.  But that’s not at all what happened that night.

Actually the Sea of Galilee is about eight miles wide, and more than twelve miles long from one end to the other. In places, the sea plunges to depths of two hundred feet.  The Sea of Galilee is surrounded by high hills and deep valleys, and because of its location, and the way the winds blow, there are a lot of sudden and violent storms.

Now not to many of us know what the fourth watch of the night is, so this is one of those times we usually pass by the word and in doing so I think we loose in translation the ability to understand just how long the disciples endured and struggled that night out on the Sea of Galilee.  

In Bible days, the night time was divided into four watches.  The first watch was from 6 p.m to 9 p.m, the second watch was from 9 p.m to midnight, the third watch was from midnight to three in the morning, and the fourth watch was from three till six in the morning, which was the beginning of the day in Israel.

In the fourth watch of the night, which we know now is around 3-6 A.M probably right before sunrise, Jesus sees his disciples in the boat, in the middle of the sea, struggling against the wind and the waves, and He goes to them walking on the water.

We can be sailing along in our own life, with everything going just fine, and all of a sudden, out of nowhere a violent storm comes up.  Years ago when my wife was pregnant with Jaime, we were vacationing up in Michigan, and I talked Jody into getting into a little row boat with me, and we headed out onto Lake Huron.  And just like this story, the winds kicked up out of nowhere, and stated pushing that little boat further and further out from the shore.  The harder I rowed the further away from the shore we went.  I tried with all my might and I was getting nowhere.

I can tell you now how scared I was for my wife and our unborn daughter.  We began to cry out to the Lord, and eventually we made it back to the shore line safe.  Looking back, I can say that life is filled with many storms.  We’re either in one right now, or we just came out of one, or we’re headed into another.

Following Christ does not mean that we will never have to face hardships or trials. Being a Christian does not mean that God is going to remove all of those obstacles out of our way. I think oftentimes He leads us right into the middle of them that we may learn to trust Him to bring us out, just like He did that night with His disciples.  

If Christ may seem to delay His coming in our time of distress, it is only that our faith may be tried and strengthened, and that our prayers may be more intense.

James 1:2-3 Count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.  That word steadfast describes a faith that is firm and unchanging, constant and unswerving.

How much easier it is to trust the Lord when the sun is shining and things are going our way, than it is when the night time is about us, and the storms begin to rage. We never know how much real faith we have until it is put to the test in some storm on the sea of life. 

In this passage of Scripture, we find the disciples caught right in the middle of a fierce storm.  Earlier Jesus had compelled his disciples to get into the boat and cross the Sea of Galilee.  The disciples are in the will of the Lord and yet, we see them struggling against the storm. 

Just because we find ourselves in hard and difficult places, doesn’t necessarily mean we are out of Gods will. The ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves; and the wind was contrary against them.  No matter how hard they tried, they were unable to make any headway. 

Have you ever found yourself in that place?  Have you ever found yourself struggling in one of life’s storms, and no matter how hard you try, no matter what you do, it seems you cannot make any headway.  I think we all have had times like that!  It may seem to you like the storm you are in, will never end, and nothing good could ever come out of what you are facing.

But I have good news.  Whenever there’s a storm guess who always shows up?  In the middle of the night, the darkest hour, the disciples saw a man walking on the water.  They did exactly what you or I might have done.  They cried out in fear.  They didn’t recognize their own Master and Lord.  Many times we can’t see Jesus clearly because of the storm raging in our lives.

Jesus immediately said, “Take courage.  It is I; do not be afraid.”  Today He is saying, that right in the middle of those things that we are struggling with, to take courage, and don’t be afraid.  He is saying, have faith in me, for I am here.

Peter said, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”  It would have been so much easier for everybody if Jesus had just climbed into the boat.  But Jesus was on the water, and He wanted Peter to venture out.  So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water to get to Jesus.

You may be someone today who is right there in the middle of a great storm in your life. You find yourself struggling against all that has come against you. The waters are over flowing around you and there seems to be no way of escape. Maybe you feel as though there is no hope, or maybe you have held on as long as you could and you just don't know how much longer you can hold on.  Hold on......to the Promises of God.

Isaiah 43:2 When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee:  when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.

The Bible is telling us that we are going to pass through some waters!  Some of them are probably going to get pretty deep.  We may even have to face some life and death situations when everything around us seems to be out of control.  There’s going to be times when we will walk through some hot and fiery trials in our life.  But the Bible is clear in telling us that when we pass through the waters, and when we walk through the fire, Christ is going to be right there with us. 

The cross reference scripture to this verse points back to the 3 Hebrew children, “Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego, who for their faith in God, was cast into a hot and fiery furnace.  We can only imagine what a complete defeat this looked like.  They fell down into the flames, and their enemies watched them to see them burn up in that awful fire.

But I like what King Nebuchadnezzar said when he looked into the window of that furnace, “Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?  And he answered and said, “I see four men walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt, and the form of the fourth man is like the Son of God.

When God comes on the scene, people are going to stand up and take notice.  There will be no denying that is was the Hand of the Lord that brought you out.  So when people ask you, how did you get out of that situation? We will answer, “By the Hand of the Lord!”  When your grandchildren ask you, “How were you delivered?” We will say, “By the Hand of the Lord”.  When Peter began to sink into the waves, it was the Hand of the Lord that caught him, and lifted him up.  It will be the Hand of the Lord that will keep up in our hour of need.

Marks gospel tells that Jesus saw His Disciples, “toiling in rowing”; for the wind was contrary unto them.  They spent all night and into the morning hours struggling to get to the other side. 

John 6: 18-19 says, “And the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew. So when they had rowed about twenty five or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing nigh unto the ship. 

Here is another one of those words that most of us do not know and we kind of pass by it, and that’s the distance of a furlong.  God placed that information in the text so I think it’s important that we understand how long the disciples had rowed that night.  One furlong is an eight of a mile, and eight furlongs is a mile. So if they had rowed thirty furlongs they would have rowed three and three quarters of a mile, trying to get to the other side.

So we can understand that the wind not only opposed them, but it blew them off course delaying them and hindering them from reaching their destination.  They had actually accomplished little less than ½ of their journey that night, when Jesus came unto them on the water.

I think the Disciples must have been exhausted and discouraged that night, and probably couldn’t go on much further at that point, and the Bible says, “Jesus saw them”.  Have you ever come to that place where you’ve exhausted all your resources? You’ve tried all that you know how to do, and nothing seems to work.  Just like the disciples, we become discouraged and feel like giving up.  We become desperate in our own real life situations and find ourselves asking, “God where are you”?

I want you to know one thing. Jesus see’s right where you are. He knows the struggles that you are going through. He knows what your need is right now. He knows the fears and doubts that have come against your minds.  It may be the darkest hour of the night for you when things are at its worst, and you may feel like all hope is gone, but hold on my friend, Christ will come to where you are!

Right in the midst of all the turmoil and the struggles, I can hear the still small voice of God break through my distress as He speaks two small words to me.  Yet those two words are big enough to break through my fears.

He says "Look Up”. I am reminded not to look so much at my difficulties, or my present distress, but to look up unto the hills from whence cometh my Help. For my help comes from the LORD. Those two small words can calm the raging of waters, and bring again that peace that stills the conflict in our soul.

Psalms 121: 1-8 says, I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.  My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.  He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.  Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.  The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.  The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.  The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.

If we can just get hold of the truth that Jesus is in control of every area of our lives, that He is God, and that He possesses all power in heaven and in earth, so that even the winds and the waves obey him, then we can come to that place where we can trust Him fully through all the storms of life. 

It takes faith to step out of the boat and walk on water, the Bible says we are to walk by faith, and not by sight.  How important it is for us not to allow the things in our life to distract our attention from the Lord. When Peter saw how strong the wind was around him he began to fear, and that is when he started to sink.

When we take our eyes off of Jesus, and start to look at all those things that are raging around us, I think that’s when we allow fears and doubts to come in, and we begin to sink.

Consider the paratrooper who leaps out of the airplane.  He is literally placing his life in the trust that his parachute is going to open and give him a safe landing.  His trust is so great that it allows him to make that leap of faith from the airplane.  It’s not easy jumping out of an airplane, plummeting to the earth, and he wouldn’t do it without the parachute. 

Peter had that same kind of trust in God that allowed him to step out of the boat, and to step into the waters believing that Christ would take care of him. And that’s the kind of faith that God is wanting from us today.  I believe He is calling us to let go of the oars and grab hold of Gods Word as we step out in faith to walk to Jesus.

His invitation to us is still the same today, as it was then, “Come”.  It may be that Christ is calling you to get out of the boat and start walking by faith.

Zechariah 4:6 Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, this is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, sayeth the Lord of host.

Our Victories are not going to be won by our own strength and abilities.  It’s not in our toiling and struggling that we are going to make it to the other side.  Our deliverance is going to come through our dependency and our trust in God, and in God alone.  It is His Power, and it is His strength that will calm the raging storms in our life.

Christ gave his disciples a gentle rebuke, saying, "What happened to your faith, why did you doubt?  As we go through life, there will be some storms. We will encounter some pretty rough waters. But as long as we keep our eyes fixed upon Jesus, and put our trust in him, He will keep us safe, till the storm passes by.