Do Not Be Afraid

Every day we read about a new terror attack somewhere in the world. People shot, blown up, beheaded. Peddlers of death and fear who claim to represent God desire in reality to hold the world in their own iron grip. Just watching the news can be an exercise in fear that allows the enemy to win in your heart. But "...God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self- control (2 Timothy 1.7 ESV)."  Nobody who deals in fear can truly represent God. Instead, the Lord gives us ways to deal with our fears and replace them with power, love, and self-control.

The fourteenth chapter of Matthew's gospel deals with the problem of fear. Immediately after his cousin John is beheaded, Jesus has to get away and deal with His own grief and His disciples' fear. Perhaps news of the beheading is the reason why so many thousands of people follow Jesus into the wilderness, looking for a king. One of God's own prophets has been killed, and if things like this can happen, what might be next?  Jesus answers their fears by miraculously feeding the multitude, then retreats again for prayer, sending the disciples ahead of Him in a boat.

The Master knows the spiritual truth that millennia later would be expressed by Franklin D. Roosevelt who said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Fear threatens our trust in God, but faith dispels fear. In faith we find perfect love, which casts out all fear (1 John 4.18).  By returning to prayer, Jesus cancels out any temptation He might have to fear. We need to do the same thing when terror threatens our hearts.

In the night, the disciples in the boat see coming towards them an apparition that looks like a man walking on the waves. "It's a ghost," they cry, making the reader wonder if they are thinking of the recently slain John. When Jesus hears the confusion and fear in their voices, His first response is to calm them. "...Immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, 'Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid Matthew 14.27 ESV).'”  This is what chapter fourteen is all about: dealing with fear.

Peter asks, “...Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water (v. 28 ESV).”  What he is really saying is, "Lord, if it's really you, then let there be no barrier between us. Let that which stands between us become the very thing that brings us together." For Peter, feeling separated from God is worse than the dark battering waves. Who knows what fear means for you?  We pray that in the midst of our fear there might be no barrier between us and our Lord, that in Jesus' presence the things we fear might instead carry us to Christ.

Jesus commands Him with one simple word, “Come.”  Peter responds in faith, and meets Jesus on top of the water.  But when his fear gets the better of him, he starts to sink. It is then that he utters the three best words of his life. Even better than his doctrinal affirmation that earns him the nickname "Rock," these three words declare not just right belief but total dependence on Jesus. No three words have ever sounded more vulnerable, honest, and open to Jesus.  Even today when you say these words, the Master's heart is moved to action. Jesus reaches into your fearful situation and lifts you into His arms.

Finally, Jesus asks Peter a question that to many people sounds like a veiled insult: “O you of little faith, why did you doubt (Matthew 14.31 ESV) ?" We might wonder why Jesus is being so backhanded were it not for Luke 17.6 (ESV), in which the Master says, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you." Clearly, Jesus thinks that a little faith can accomplish a lot. Here he reminds Peter that he does in fact possess this small, productive kind of faith.  Jesus wants to know why, with that kind of miraculous faith, Peter would doubt. He asks the same of you.

To each is granted a measure of faith. When fearful things threaten, too often we think that only a huge faith could save us. But even a small amount of faith can lift us above the circumstance and steady our feet.  Since the Lord has given us this faith, he is stunned when we allow doubt to crowd our faith and make us sink. With the kind of faith he has given, he expects us to walk out to meet him every time.  Sometimes we fail, yet even when we do, he takes our hand to lift us up.

A MEDITATION WITH ECUMENICAL PRAYER BEADS:
(Click here to get your own)

INVITATORY - from v. 27
“Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”

CRUCIFORM - from v. 33
"Truly you are the Son of God!"

WEEKS - from vv. 29, 30
(Inhale) "Lord, save me!"
(Exhale) "Come."

BENEDICTORY - from v. 31
“O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”