Mark spoke tonight from Matt 14:22-33, relating the incident of when Jesus walked on water after the feeding of the five thousand. Here, He proved Himself to be the Lord of the elements, for He spoke peace into the situation of the raging storm and enabled Peter to walk in the storm.
The disciples were stressed and afraid because of the storm, but seeing what they thought was a ghost approaching them must have been even more terrifying! In the panic, it is easy to let the storm become more important than it actually is; Peter stepped out in faith onto the water, but when he saw the waves and stopped looking at Jesus, doubt crept in. We need to know that when Jesus tells us to come, we can trust Him.
Jesus called Peter to be a storm walker. He could undoubtedly have calmed the storm first, but instead He called him to step out into the storms of life. Sometimes He calls us out of our safety zones and asks us to trust that the waves will not drown us and the fire will not burn us (see Is 43:1-3). He has called us and He does indeed work miracles in hard times, but we are required to trust. Daniel found Jesus in the lions’ den; Paul and Silas found joy even in a prison cell. Sometimes we ask God to calm the hard situations of life but He is saying ‘come’, and if we respond to that, miracles happen. When we respond in faith to God’s call, our faith soars as we experience more of God’s miraculous power.