John 6:16-25\u00a0<\/b>–\u00a0Now when evening came, His\u00a0disciples went down to the sea,\u00a017\u00a0and after getting into a boat, they\u00a0started to\u00a0cross the sea\u00a0to Capernaum. It had already become dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them.\u00a018\u00a0In addition, the sea\u00a0began\u00a0getting rough, because a strong wind was blowing.\u00a019\u00a0Then, when they had rowed about\u00a0twenty-five or thirty stadia, they *saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat; and they were frightened.\u00a020\u00a0But He *said to them,\u00a0\u201cIt is I;\u00a0do not be afraid.\u201d\u00a021\u00a0So they were willing to take Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.\u00a0 22\u00a0The next day\u00a0the crowd that stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other small boat there except one, and that Jesus\u00a0had not gotten into the boat with His disciples, but\u00a0that\u00a0His disciples had departed alone.\u00a023\u00a0Other small boats came from\u00a0Tiberias near to the place where they ate the bread after the\u00a0Lord\u00a0had given thanks.\u00a024\u00a0So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they themselves got into the small boats and\u00a0came to Capernaum, looking for Jesus.\u00a025\u00a0And when they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, \u201cRabbi, when did You get here?\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cSo they were willing to take Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0The Apostles were terrified when they first saw Jesus walking on the water but once Jesus told them that it was He walking on the water their fear left them.<\/p>\n
The Gospels of John and Mark do not mention the famous story of Peter, who after knowing it was Jesus walking on the water, asking Jesus to command him to also walk to Him on top of the water. Peter was obviously excited seeing Jesus yet again doing the impossible.\u00a0\u00a0Jesus said to Peter \u201cCome<\/i>.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0And Peter got out of the boat and by the authority of Jesus Peter walked on the water toward Him.\u00a0\u00a0However, seeing the great wind and troubled waters Peter became afraid and began to sink and he quickly called out to Jesus \u201cLord, save me!\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Jesus then immediately reached out His hand and saved him and said to him \u201cYou of little faith, why did you doubt.<\/i>\u00a0\u00a0(Matthew 14:32<\/b>)\u00a0\u00a0Now these Apostles were men specifically called by the Lord to be in the most elite group of humans in the history of Christendom. Not that they were anything other than human, the same as all of us.\u00a0\u00a0But the Lord called each of them for specific reasons that would bring glory to Jesus and also to minister to the myriad of mankind.\u00a0\u00a0Though these became men of great faith, at this point they were still learning who He was, what was His mission on earth and what He would have to suffer through in this world.\u00a0\u00a0At this point in time, just in the Gospel of John, the Apostles had witnessed John the Baptist identify Jesus as \u201cthe Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,\u201d and Father God, the Holy Spirit and John the Baptist identify Jesus as God with the title given to the Messiah of Son of God.\u00a0\u00a0(John 1:1<\/b>) And they really did not even understand what most mature Christians today do.\u00a0\u00a0(Of course we have the benefit of what they grew to know and passed on to us.)<\/p>\n
Other proofs of Jesus which they had seen in John up to chapter six was Jesus revealing that He supernaturally knew Nathanael before Nathanael even met Him (John 1:47-47<\/b>), also the miracle at Cana (Water to wine)(John 2:1-11<\/b>), Jesus knowing the life story of the woman at the well in Samaria before she had met Him (John 4:2-29<\/b>), He had told the woman at the well that He could give Living Water to her which God had described as something only He could give.\u00a0\u00a0(Jeremiah 2:13)\u00a0\u00a0John 4:26<\/b>\u00a0Jesus revealed to the woman that He Himself was the Messiah that people had been waiting for. (John 4:26<\/b>)\u00a0\u00a0Furthermore they saw Jesus heal a man who had been paralyzed for thirty eight years. (John 5:8-9<\/b>)\u00a0\u00a0The Apostles heard Jesus make statements that enraged the Jewish leaders because the statements Jesus made of Himself equated Himself with God.\u00a0\u00a0Just before this incident of Jesus walking on the water they had seen Jesus multiply five loaves and two fish into enough food for over five thousand people to supply with enough food to satisfy the over five thousand people and to have twelve baskets of leftover food. After the personal teaching all of them had received from Jesus, and after all they had seen, it is recorded in Matthew that they had not gained insight even from the miracle of the loaves in fishes because they still had hardness in their hearts.\u00a0\u00a0(Mark 5:52<\/b>)<\/p>\n
After all that the Apostles had seen and heard, how their knowledge and faith not become stronger than it was?\u00a0\u00a0Why didn\u2019t they know that Jesus, whom had chosen them, did not save them to let them perish?\u00a0\u00a0Why didn\u2019t they know that the image walking on the water was Jesus? It would seem that their thought of who was walking on the water was that it was Jesus coming to save them.\u00a0\u00a0Why didn\u2019t they shout in union \u201clook Jesus is coming to rescue us!\u201d\u00a0\u00a0After having seen Jesus walking on water and how Peter had also been allowed to do so, how He stilled the wind and after seeing how Jesus had instantly transported them and their boat to the destination, and after all they had previously seen Jesus do, why didn\u2019t they know who Jesus was?\u00a0\u00a0David knew God would provide the victory before He gave David the victory over Goliath. (1 Samuel 17:45-47<\/b>) Daniel completely trust God enough to, in faith, step into the lion\u2019s death. (Daniel 6:16-24<\/b>)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego stepped into the fiery furnace before God kept them safe.\u00a0\u00a0(Daniel 3:19-28<\/b>)\u00a0\u00a0How did the Apostles not yet know that Jesus would save them?\u00a0\u00a0When we are in trials, why don\u2019t we know that God will deliver in any of multiple ways?<\/p>\n
After Jesus rescued them on the sea the Apostles worshiped Him saying \u201cYou are truly God\u2019s Son<\/i>.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Mark notes that the reason they were astonished by all this was that they had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but their hearts were hardened. Let us look with grace upon how the Apostles reacted.\u00a0\u00a0Don\u2019t we also too often look with faith upon what the Lord God is doing in our lives?\u00a0\u00a0Too often we fear instead of trust.\u00a0\u00a0We ought not to fear but to boldly rely on the promises of God.\u00a0\u00a0Expect miracles as we live in faith in the love of God.\u00a0\u00a0Praise God!<\/p>\n
Psalm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/i><\/p>\n
Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will Hear\u00a0me.<\/i><\/p>\n
Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has\u00a0shown you, Oh man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; and what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of you, but\u00a0to do justly, to love\u00a0mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.<\/i><\/p>\n
Numbers 6:24-26<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0The\u00a0Lord\u00a0bless you and keep you; 25\u00a0The\u00a0Lord\u00a0make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26\u00a0The\u00a0Lord\u00a0turn His face\u00a0toward you and give you peace.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
John 6:16-25\u00a0–\u00a0Now when evening came, His\u00a0disciples went down to the sea,\u00a017\u00a0and after getting into a boat, they\u00a0started to\u00a0cross the sea\u00a0to Capernaum. It had already become dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them.\u00a018\u00a0In addition, the sea\u00a0began\u00a0getting rough, because a strong wind was blowing.\u00a019\u00a0Then, when they had rowed about\u00a0twenty-five or thirty stadia, they *saw Jesus…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[1477,99,100,93,101,94,1874,17,2187],"class_list":["post-2806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-daniel","tag-jeremiah","tag-john","tag-mark","tag-matthew","tag-micah","tag-numbers","tag-psalm","tag-samuel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2806"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2806\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2807,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2806\/revisions\/2807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}