WAVES
March 09, 2021
Prayer: Lord, when I sense storms and crashing waves all around me, help me to walk with you in peace and trust. Amen.
Scripture: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” Matt 14:27 NIV
I woke up at 4 am. I knew I would because it was really midday, at least it was as far as my body clock was concerned. I had done my best the previous evening to convince myself otherwise but to no avail. I was wide awake and ready for the day. Unfortunately nobody else was.
I had arrived in San Francisco at around 6pm the previous evening and I had processed through US immigration, collected my hire car and made it to the hotel in a couple of hours, which was all pretty pleasing. I had stayed in Half Moon Bay once before, and what was especially attractive about the small hotel was that my room was around fifty yards from the beach.
So when I awoke the first thing I was aware of was the sound of the waves rolling along the Pacific shoreline. I was deeply aware of how privileged I was to be there, but I was also very conscious of the Lord drawing my attention to the waves. I did the only sensible thing to do at such a time in the morning, I made a cup of tea and got out my laptop to investigate waves in the Bible.
There are around thirty references in the Old Testament to waves, depending on which version you use, and they are almost all bad news. Waves mean peril and disruption, the uncontrollable and unpredictable nature of storms, wind, and tempest over the deep, dark seas. Waves can also refer to hordes of soldiers tramping across the deserts or some other terrain, usually bringing death and destruction with them, frequently to God’s people as a result of their rebellion, disobedience, or just plain old indifference.
It’s not a universally true picture, but in large measure as far as God’s people were concerned, waves were the harbingers of doom rather than joy.
In the gospels Jesus arrives and paints a very different picture. There are two wavy stories, and in both of them Jesus shows He is completely in charge of the waves and that His followers do not have to fear them at all. Firstly we read about Jesus calming the waves and the storm, as in Matt 8:23-27, and then the next time we encounter the dread and terror of the deep, Jesus is walking quite calmly on top of it, Matt 14:22-32.
Clearly Jesus is communicating this: stick close to Him and we will have a capacity for peace and authority in the presence of trouble that will astound us and others.
Adapted from the book ‘To Infinity and Turn Left: Exploring God’s Purpose for Christian Teachers’ by Graham Coyle, available from Amazon. [email protected]