Text- Matthew 16:28-30 "And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!"
You must have heard these words before: “THE STORMS OF LIFE”. Yes, life sometimes gets stormy like a raging sea full of violent storms. Countless men have drowned in the storms of life, while many more are being distressed on a daily basis.
The truth is, you may not be able to choose the cards that life will throw at you but you can determine whether or not you will be swallowed up by the ‘twists and turns of fate’ depending on whether you judge by the situation or by the revelation.
In today’s text, we read about Peter’s experience. He said to Jesus, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” So Jesus said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. This is judging by revelation… As long as Peter’s attention was on the revelation of Christ who bid him to come, he did just fine!
But something happened somewhere along the line; when Peter saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink. At that time, he began to judge by the situation and that was where trouble began.
As you go about your day today, I implore you to judge every event by the revelation, and not by the situation; see Jesus in every situation and judge by that revelation. It may not make sense yet, but at the end, you’ll fully understand and be glad that you cooperated with God.
Another good story in the Bible to buttress this point is the story of Ruth and Naomi. While Naomi kept judging by the situation, Ruth’s judgment was based on revelation. Naomi had lost her husband and two sons in Moab, and was about returning home, but her daughter-in-law, Ruth insisted on following her. See some of the statements Naomi made, while trying to dissuade Ruth from following her:
The hand of the Lord has gone out against me (Ruth 1:13)
The Lord has dealt bitterly with me (Ruth 1:20)
The Lord has testified against me (Ruth 1:21)
The Almighty has afflicted me (Ruth 1:21)
Naomi kept judging by the situation! While Naomi was making all these statements, Ruth kept repeating the same thing, “Entreat me not to leave you, or to turn back from following after you; for wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.” (Ruth 1:16)
If I was Ruth, and I heard all the things that Naomi said about her God, I can say any other thing, but I’m definitely not going to say “Your God will be my God”! The point is, Ruth chose not to judge by the situation; she chose to judge by the revelation. This is worthy of emulation.
PRAYERS
1. Lord, help me to always judge by the revelation and not by the situation.
2. Help me Lord, to see Christ in everything. Each day Lord, let the person, presence and power of Christ be more real to me than the situations I face.
3. Lord, help me to fully cooperate with you as you work all things together for my good.