Hello, my friends!
Don’t you love the rain today! We’re sitting with dear friends on their porch in Julian listening to the thunder crashing all around us and I’m thinking how grateful I am for the change of weather, the freshness of fall, and the reminder that all the good things of life continue and remain, even when life is difficult and chaotic around us.
I know that all of us are exhausted. All of us have been through quite a season, and each of us has earned some much-needed respite. If only we could press pause for a moment, but there is no actual snooze button on life. The world continues to revolve and spin around our sun every 365 days and reminds us that life is never static. We are always on the move. Change is the one constant in life.
How we long for some stability. A fixed point. An anchor. Jesus tells us that such a place exists. But it isn’t what you’d guess. It isn’t some principle or proposition. It isn’t a promise or prophecy. It is found in putting our faith into action. In hearing God’s words and doing them. This is the firm foundation. This is the place that allows us to weather the storm.
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.” (Mat. 7:24-25)
There is a distinction being made. It isn’t enough to merely hear. Hearing must be followed by action. Without action, the house comes crashing down, and loudly. Without faith, we sink. We must first hear and then act. This is the essence of faith.
Later in Matthew, Jesus tells Peter to come to him on the water and beckons him out of the boat in the midst of the storm. And what does Peter find? That the waves have become solid. He can walk on the water, even in the midst of the tempestuous sea. An impossibility even on the calmest of days! The raging squall becomes immaterial. All he must do is fix his eyes upon Jesus. To not look away.
And we all know how the story goes. Peter gets distracted by the chaos all around him. And so do we. He looks away and He sinks. Because the actual stability is found, not in the action, but in the unbreaking gaze with Jesus. In the intimate eye-to-eye connection with his Rabbi. In the knowing and being known by God.
And this principle holds true for us today. Can you take a moment and soak in that truth? That Jesus sees you, tired and exhausted and worn thin…Do you see Him? He knows you, all your fears and longing and worries and concerns… Do you know him?
Peter sinks but finds a hand reaching towards his. And in that clasping he learns the deepest truth of all…that intimacy with God is the one unshakeable place in the universe. As the world spins and the seasons change. As trials come and trials go. The Prince of Peace is always extending that hand to you. Offering stability. Not always calming the storm but inviting you to stand instead hand in hand with Him upon the firm foundation of the sea.
I sure love you guys!
Jeff