22Immediately Jesus made the disciples
get into the boat and go on ahead of him
to the other side, while he dismissed
the crowd.
23After he had
dismissed them, he went up on a
mountainside by himself to pray. When
evening came, he was there alone,
24but the boat was already a
considerable distance[a] from land,
buffeted by the waves because the wind
was against it.
25During the
fourth watch of the night Jesus went out
to them, walking on the lake.
26When the disciples saw him walking on
the lake, they were terrified. "It's a
ghost," they said, and cried out in
fear.
27But Jesus immediately
said to them: "Take courage! It is I.
Don't be afraid."
28"Lord, if
it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to
come to you on the water."
29"Come," he said. Then Peter got down
out of the boat, walked on the water and
came toward Jesus.
30But when he
saw the wind, he was afraid and,
beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord,
save me!"
31Immediately Jesus
reached out his hand and caught him.
"You of little faith," he said, "why did
you doubt?"
32And when they
climbed into the boat, the wind died
down.
VERSE: I lift up my
eyes to You, to You whose throne is in
heaven. . . . Our eyes look to the Lord
our God, till He shows us His mercy.
(Psalm 123:1-2)
Thought:
(In 1996, Tupac Shakur, one of hip
hop's brightest, most influential, and
controversial stars of the 1990s,
released a double album called All Eyez
on Me.
The album sold more than
5 million copies. As we watched Tupac,
we saw rage, violence, incarceration,
and ultimately his own death. Many who
kept their eyes on him were sorely
disappointed.
There is a person
we should keep our eyes on--Jesus. The
way we do that is by praying. When our
souls are parched in the desert of shame
and guilt, and we intensely fix our eyes
on the Lord through prayer, He showers
us with the refreshing raindrops of His
compassionate mercy and loving kindness
(Psalm 123:1).
Not only do we
fix our eyes on the Lord when we pray
for His mercy, but we also watch for His
signal as to our next move in life.
Because God alone knows our next
assignment, it is vital for us to keep
our eyes on Him, watching intensely for
His direction (123:2).
When we
take our eyes off the Lord and fix them
on something or someone else, we are
setting ourselves up for disappointment.
In Matthew 14:22-32, when Peter took his
eyes off Jesus and focused on the waves,
he immediately began to sink. Feelings
of terror, instability, and sinking are
often the result of misplaced vision.
If we want to make progress in
our faith journey with Jesus Christ, we
must fix our eyes on the One on whom our
faith depends from start to finish. We
must "fix our eyes on Jesus, the author
and perfecter of our faith, who for the
joy set before Him endured the cross,
scorning its shame, and sat down at the
right hand of the throne of God"
(Hebrews 12:2).
Keep your eyes
on Him when doubt, fear, guilt, and
personal struggle threaten to overwhelm
you. Then you will never be
disappointed.
Questions to consider:
****Can I think of a time when I
took my eyes off the Lord?
***What or who caused me to misplace my
vision?
***What or who helped me
to refocus my vision?
***How
would I rate my prayer-life on a scale
of 1-10?
***How closely am I
watching the Lord for my next
assignment?
Keep your eyes fixed
on Christ.
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