Friday, February 12, 2016
Matthew 14:28 And Peter answered Him and said, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water."
LOOK AT YOUR SAVIOR'S HANDS -- HANDS THAT PROTECT!
When I was about five years old, I remember my grandfather pulling out into an intersection. I remember looking through my rear passenger window at that speeding red convertible coming over the hill and meeting the widening eyes of the driver just before he slammed into my car door. Except for just about biting through my tongue, we all walked away. When I was about ten I was riding my friend's dirt bike up by his cabin. I remember taking a wrong turn and dropping down a steep embankment and losing control "just enough" to spill the bike and slide onto the front porch of a neighbor's house instead of ramming straight into the wall. Both accidents could have or should have easily been fatal, but the Lord had other plans for me. In fact, what event in life does NOT have some level of divine intervention?
I imagine Peter speaking and preaching in a similar way when he told others about that time on the stormy sea when Jesus walked out on the water to Him! Peter, having doubted along with the others at first that it really was the Lord, was given permission to walk with the Lord on the waters! When we are faced with the storms of this life, even death itself, we may doubt like Peter did. Or wonder in sickness or health whether the Lord is really near us.
Peter would see first-hand, more than once, His Savior's hands delivering him. When Peter sank in fear and doubt into those stormy waters, our Savior's hands reached down from above and rescued him. When Peter sank in fear and doubt after denying to know Jesus so heatedly, our Savior's hands reached down from above and rescued him by forgiving him for that as well. Our Savior's hands protected Peter through storms of both sea and soul, pulling him up with His firm grasp out of doubt and despair and into the protection of His merciful arms. See those same lessons Peter saw in your own life as well. Look at your Savior's hands -- they are hands that protect!
