May 2
‘The apostles said to the Lord: Increase our faith!’ Luke 17:5
Bible reading: Matthew 14:22-33 (Go to the Bible passage)
A captain should rely on his ship, but even the most reliable ship becomes a plaything of the elements in a violently raging storm. A captain needs more than confidence in his ship.
As we are captains of our ships of life, this also applies to us. Many people are weighed down by an awful sense of inferiority, others suffer from overestimation of themselves. Both are inadequate captains of their ships of life. The storms of life are necessary to teach us that overestimation of ourselves or a feeling of inferiority equally cause us to strand hopelessly.
When the storms become violent, we will – hopefully - discover that even a healthy self-awareness is not enough to keep our ship afloat! When the fury of the elements threatens to break up even the strongest ship, we will lose every confidence in our own ship. We will feel safer being tossed up and down in the turbulent water, clutching the life-buoy that was thrown to us.
When the ship of the disciples was near sinking and Jesus came to them on the waves, Peter longed to be safe with Him. Jesus called him and Peter promptly stepped onto the waves to meet Him. His faith in Jesus was so great that he overcame the laws of nature.
We need violent storms in our lives to learn to have genuine faith in Jesus. When - through the storms of life - we have got such a close relationship with Him, Jesus can ask us whatever He wishes. For then we know that He equips us to do anything He asks of us. Then, fortunately, our ‘common sense’ comes to a standstill as it did with Peter on the waves. But if we then do not keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, we will get the plain proof that we cannot walk on water!

Share This