It has been a long time since I’ve written a blog post. But the picture below compelled me to write one. The picture below may not look very significant, in fact, it’s just a very basic drawing. But I’ve been hooked to this picture ever since I found it. When I look at the picture, I can see a few things. I can see the story that the picture represents. I can see Jesus and what it represents about Him. I can see what picture represents about me. I can see what the picture represents about us. There is a lot in this simple picture. But, I also understand that there are some that may not see what I see. There are some that might just see a picture and wonder what all of this is about.
WHAT’S THE STORY?
The story that this picture represents can be found in the Gospel of Matthew. In Matthew 14, we see the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000 [1] and after the crowd had eaten Jesus sends the disciples to the other side of the lake while He sent the crowd home [2]. After the crowd had gone home, Jesus went off by Himself to be alone and pray [3].
The disciples, by this point, had found themselves in a storm. This was normal for the Sea of Galilee and during this storm Jesus was not with them as He was before [4]. Exhausted and scared from fighting and being in the storm, the disciples were probably about ready to give up. But just then, they saw someone coming toward them walking on the water! They were frightened and thought it was it was a ghost [5]. I mean, wouldn’t you? You’re in the middle of raging storm. It’s dark and there’s wind, rain, waves, and a figure coming towards you that you can’t make out. What else is there to think?!
But Jesus, more than likely hearing their fear calls out to them. The Bible says “Jesus spoke to them at once” (Matthew 14:27a, NLT). Jesus told them to take courage for He was there [6]. Still in doubt, because this wasn’t a normal situation, Peter calls out to Jesus and asks if he could walk to Jesus on the water. Jesus tells Peter to come to Him. So, Peter sticks his leg over the side of the boat and I bet the other disciples were wondering what in the world he was doing! But when Peter touches the water, it holds him up and he begins walking toward Jesus [7]. This moment has to amaze Peter and the other disciples.
As Peter is walking toward Jesus, he begins to take his eyes off of Jesus and he starts to look around at the wind and waves. He becomes scared and starts to sink into the water. Now, even more terrified then he already was, he cries out to Jesus to save him. Jesus heard his cry and immediately reach out to save Peter from the water. Jesus and Peter get back in the boat and the storm ends [8].
WHAT’S IT SAY ABOUT US?
The story shows that we need Jesus. We all face storms in life. Financial storms. Medical storms. Health storms. Relationship storms. Marriage storms. Career storms. There are probably a few that I left out. But the plan is there are storms that come up in all of our lives.
What this story shows is that even in the storms of life, if we keep our focused on Jesus, we can walk on water. We can walk right through the storms of life because he’s there with us. But, as the story shows, we sometimes take our eyes off of Jesus, and then we begin to sink into the storms of life. When we begin to sink into the storms of life, this causes us to panic. When we start to panic, we only get ourselves deeper and deep into the storm.
WHAT’S IT SAY ABOUT JESUS?
But when we find ourselves in a storm, Jesus is there with us. That’s what makes this simple picture so beautiful is that even though the storms of life rage, Jesus is there in them with us. When Peter started the sink into the storm, Jesus was right there. When Peter cried out for Jesus’ help, Jesus immediately reached out His hand and pulled Peter from the storm.
Jesus will always be there for us when we need Him. This is what makes Jesus so amazing and what makes the picture so amazing. Jesus will never leave us in trouble (Hebrews 13:5). Jesus is our ever present help when we are in trouble (Psalm 46:1, NIV). In knowing, we should not fear in the storms (Psalm 46:2-3)!
You might be saying “goodness, you got all of that from a simple picture?” I would say in response “yes, I got all of that from a simple picture of a great Savior!”
[1] Matthew 14:13-21
[2] Matthew 14:22
[3] Matthew 14:23
[4] Matthew 14:24, enduringword.com, Matthew 8:23-27
[5] Matthew 14:25-26
[6] Matthew 14:27
[7] Matthew 14:28-29
[8] Matthew 14:30-32
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