God knows

‘Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them walking on the lake. When the disciples saw Him walking on the lake, they were terrified. ‘It’s a ghost’, they said and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them ‘It is I. Do not be afraid.’ Matthew 14:25-27

We can imagine the scene, a ghost-like figure actually walking on the lake! Then when Jesus reveals Himself, Peter impetuously calls out, ‘Lord, if it is You, tell me to come to you on the water.’ After Peter jumps into the lake he takes his eyes off Jesus who stretches out His hand to take hold of Peter’s hand and save him. He is now safe.

For us to have the same experience we don’t have to plunge into freezing water, life throws up enough problems of its own. It is when we take our eyes off Jesus that we run into trouble. Jesus said, ‘Do not be afraid.’ I sometimes think that as human beings we are programmed to worry. But why do we worry when worry achieves nothing. It only makes the situation worse. We have medical tests and then worry about the results, which we can’t alter anyway. We think of every bad scenario but still nothing changes.

There are so many times in the Bible where Jesus, a prophet or apostle tells us not to worry. God has control of every situation. He knows the answers.

A small group of us were playing dominoes. It was a very amateur friendly game, nothing professional about it. We even adapted some of the rules so that everyone felt included and enjoyed the afternoon. Even so, I found that there were a few strategies I could use to give myself a better chance of winning.

Playing dominoes is a bit like life, a matter of choices. We need make so many choices in one day, some big and some so small that we hardly notice them, What will we have for breakfast, what will we wear. Some decisions are far more important and take more thought, what career will I follow? Who will I marry?

All choices large or small will have consequences. If we choose casual clothes for a formal interview we are unlikely to get the job. If we make a wrong choice in choosing a life partner, it will affect, well, our whole life.

We do not need to be on our own when making our choices, especially the big ones. God can be with us every step of the way. ‘Take it to the Lord in prayer,’ we are urged. God knows the end from the beginning and has far more wisdom than us. He wants to hear from us. Talk to Him.

We don’t see anything as God does, our minds are too finite. We don’t see people as God does, we are too judgmental. How often do we write people off without knowing all the facts about their lives. Someone we think of as unimportant could be the very best person for the job. There is a good example of this in the 16th chapter of 1 Samuel.

Samuel has the job of anointing a new king of Israel because King Saul has fallen from grace in Gods eyes. This is an extremely important and difficult task as Samuel doesn’t know who God has chosen.

Off he goes to the household of Jessie, the Benjaminite. Jessie has eight sons, all strapping young lads and in Samuel’s eyes, all eminently suitable to be the next king. When he sees the eldest, Eliab, he thinks he has found the man, but he is not God’s chosen one. Nor were the next six. God had chosen David, the youngest. I love it when I read that when David had been anointed, ‘the spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward.’ verse 3.

From this I learn that even I, or you can be used by God. As the saying goes, ‘God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called.’ From this we learn that God doesn’t judge as we do. We are not in a position to judge when we don’t know the full story of someone’s life. We will never know their soul’s longings. It is up to us to try to love them as God does.