GOD’S WORD FOR  NOVEMBER 9

Our  book excerpt today, and ongoing,  is from “Chiseled by the Master’s Hand”  Lessons from the Life of Peter, by Erwin  Lutzer.  Dr. Lutzer is  Canadian-born and served as Senior Pastor of the Moody Church in Chicago for 36 years, until his retirement in 2016.   He now serves as Pastor Emeritus of Moody Church.  He’s written many books and has radio and internet teaching programs.

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(The disciples think Jesus is a ghost walking on the water and are terrified)

“But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘Take courage, it is I;  do not be afraid’”   Peter instantly recognized that voice!  This was not a ghost or phantom, but His Lord, the Omnipotent One!  His Master had found them on this tempestuous lake because He knew the intimate details of their hopeless fight against nature. 

We’ve all been misunderstood; perhaps no one has taken the time to find out our side of the story.  We can’t tell our private struggles to those who are quick to judge, those who have never felt the power of our temptations, those who have never burned with the frustrations of our unmet desires.  Yet there is One who knows, who understands, and who loves His people.  The all-knowing Lord sees us as our boat is battered by the storms of life.  A  friend who knows us but is powerless to help is of some comfort.  Christ, however, has not only knowledge but power – ability to actually intervene in the crucial moments when we are about to give up.

According to the laws of nature, Jesus should not have been able to walk on water.  There is a law of physics that says, “The buoyant force exerted by a liquid is equal to the weight of the water displaced.”  That means simply that water will carry an object only to the extent of the weight of the water which has been displaced by that object.  Jesus should have sunk to His shoulders, eventually becoming just as helpless in the storm as the disciples.  But He is God, Lord over the forces of nature and over the law of gravity.

HE WALKED ON THE RAGING WATERS OF GALILEE WITH THE CONFIDENCE OF ONE WHO WAS TREADING ON A MARBLE FLOOR.

According to John, in 6:19, Christ walked for about four miles.  This was the Christ who had commanded the fish and they swam into the net;  this was the Christ who had turned water into wine, created not only the earth and laws of nature, but the entire universe, and still remain LARGER than all that.    So now, of course,  the waves and the winds were under His command.  The Christ whom Peter saw was the Triumphant One, the One whose power was displayed in creating the universe.   Still, He watched after them every moment and only let the trial go as far as necessary for their growth

When facing temptation and trials, the disappointments of ill health, or the crumbling of our well-laid plans or even the loss of a loved one:

OUR FIRST AND GREATEST NEED IS ALWAYS TO HAVE A NEW VISION OF CHRIST.

At such a moment there is hope even in despair.  Christ MUST become as real to us as the storm itself.

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Genesis 16:13

Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, “Have I also here seen Him who sees me?”

Amos 4:13

For behold,

He who forms mountains,

And creates the wind,

Who declares to man what his thought is,

And makes the morning darkness,

Who treads the high places of the earth—

The Lord God of hosts is His name.

Psalm 68:19

Blessed be the Lord,

Who daily loads us with benefits,

Who carries our burdens.

The God of our salvation! Selah

Psalm 40:1-5

I waited patiently for the Lord;

And He inclined to me,

And heard my cry.

He also brought me up out of a horrible pit,

Out of the miry clay,

And set my feet upon a rock,

And established my steps.

He has put a new song in my mouth—

Praise to our God;

Many will see it and fear,

And will trust in the Lord.

Blessed is that man who makes the Lord his trust,

And does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.

Many, O Lord my God, are Your wonderful works

Which You have done;

And Your thoughts toward us

Cannot be recounted to You in order;

If I would declare and speak of them,

They are more than can be numbered.

Psalm 150:6

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!

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