After Jesus fed the 5000 with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish, He departed from the crowd because He realized they were about to proclaim Him king; but only on the basis of His miraculous powers. (John 6:14-15). There was nothing spiritual about their intentions. They figured that anybody who could provide free food would make a good king. Jesus knew it was not time for Him to be made a king, so He sent his disciples away in a boat across to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus went the other direction to a mountain top, to pray. As night fell, Jesus was there on the mountain alone.

Verse 24 tells the next thing that happens in the story:

Meanwhile, the disciples were in trouble far away from land,
for a strong wind had risen,
and they were fighting heavy waves.

The reason the disciples were in trouble, out in the middle of the Sea of Galilee, in the dark of night, was BECAUSE THEY WERE BEING DISOBEDIENT TO JESUS.

When we are disobedient to Jesus, it often leads to trouble in our lives. And that trouble teaches us that we are not able to solve life’s problems by ourselves. The Apostles could not solve the problem of the storm that they found themselves in on the Sea of Galilee. Their only hope, and our only hope, is Jesus helping us. Jesus sometimes sends us into the middle of the storm, like He did the disciples on this occasion, just so we will learn to have faith instead of fear.

So we see the disciples going off in the boat in one direction, and Jesus going up on the mountain in another direction to be alone and pray. Even though they are far apart from each other, Jesus is aware of their situation.

ACT 2: JESUS IS AWARE OF HIS DISCIPLES
Matthew 14:24

Jesus knew the disciples were heading into rough water even though He was not there with them. Jesus does not have to be physically present with us to know what is happening in our lives.

THE STILLNESS OF THE NIGHT

The story now moves to the time of about 3 a.m (Some translations say ‘during the fourth watch’, which is between 3 and 6 a.m). This tells us that the disciples have been rowing the boat for a long, long time. Remember that the feeding of the 5000 occurred at the end of the previous day, so by the time the crowd was dismissed and the disciples started their trip it was sometime at night. They were still rowing the boat in the middle of the night when the wind began to blow hard, and “they were fighting heavy waves”.

THE STRUGGLE OF THE DISCIPLES

The length of the trip Jesus sent them on was about five miles. John 6:19 tells that they had been rowing for “three or four” hours when the wind began to blow strongly against them. They were rowing as hard as they could.....Mark 6:48 says they were “straining at the oars and making little progress”. Imagine rowing for hours and hours, only to realize you are hardly moving. The wind was blowing against the boat as they rowed, pushing it backwards and making their work much harder. It must have been a terrible night - exhausted men rowing hour after hour in the dark, silently trying to understand what they had experienced the day before. And now a storm is coming up. Water begins splashing over the sides of the boat and the men are getting wet… colder and wetter. They must be wondering, why did Jesus tell them to do this? They knew they could sink and all drown very easily.

THE SCENE THAT JESUS SAW

Now Mark 6:47-48 tells us something remarkable. Jesus was “Alone on land...He saw the disciples were in serious trouble”

From His place on the mountain side, Jesus could see the disciples straining at the oars on the Sea of Galilee, even though the night was completely black.

This verse can give us great encouragement. When we are straining against our own challenge and think we are doing it all alone, Jesus sees us...He sees you, He sees me, and He sees each and every one of us. He is always aware of what is happening in our life. Our response is likely to be, “It is great that Jesus is aware of my struggle, but why is He not doing something about it?” The answer is that Jesus solves problems on His timetable, not ours. As long as you know He is watching you, you know He is aware of your needs and He will meet them.

ACT 3: JESUS APPEARING TO HIS DISCIPLES
Matthew 14:25-27

All three Gospel writers provide detailed accounts of what happened when Jesus appeared to His disciples on the water. Here we have combined them into one story.

WHAT THE DISCIPLES SAW

Have you ever stayed awake all night? When you are exhausted, sometimes your eyes play tricks on you. You can not believe what you think you are seeing. That is probably exactly the condition the disciples were in when they looked up and thought they saw someone walking on the water.

Jesus was walking on the surface of the water and “would have passed them by.” (Mark 6:48).
The disciples were struggling so hard, they thought Jesus was going to walk right past them.
Have you ever thought Jesus was going to pass you by during your struggle?

I have!

Does He?

No, never.

WHAT THE DISCIPLES SAID

“They screamed in terror”. What would you have done?

WHAT THE DISCIPLES FELT

They felt intense fear. As to the exact reason for their fear, Mark 6:52 gives us an interesting insight. It says this: “They still did not understand the significance of the miracle of the multiplied loaves, for their hearts were hard and they did not believe.”

Because they had failed the lesson of faith in the feeding of the 5000, their hearts had been hardened. Just as no one but God could feed thousands of people with a small amount of bread and fish, so no one but God can walk on water. But as they failed to see Jesus as God the first time, they failed to see Him as God this time as well.

WHAT THE DISCIPLES HEARD

Jesus said: “It is all right, I am here. Do not be afraid”.

Jesus was there. He just walked up to the boat in the middle of the Sea of Galilee. Two miracles, each a demonstration of Jesus’ divinity, in one 12-hour period. Wow! The tired Apostles’ feelings must have been overloaded with confusion and wonder.

ACT 4: JESUS ALONGSIDE HIS DISCIPLES
Matthew 14:28-33

Now we come to the finale of Matthew’s four scenes.

Scene 1, Jesus was apart from the disciples;
Scene 2, Jesus aware of their situation;
Scene 3, Jesus appeared to them; and now
Scene 4, Jesus alongside of them.

PETER SAYS TO THE LORD

Peter says to Jesus: Lord if it is really you, tell me to come to you by walking on water.
Peter often does things that seem impulsive. Here he asked Jesus to prove it was Him by inviting Peter to walk out on the water. Peter was simply saying, “Lord, if you command me to come to you, I know I can do it.”

JESUS SAYS TO PETER

In answer to what Peter said, Jesus replied: All right, come.

When Jesus called him, Peter went.

WHENEVER GOD CALLS US, GOD ALSO ENABLES US TO DO IT.

Here we see the principle that when God calls, He also enables us to complete the task. Each of us needs to examine what we are doing for the Lord and make sure it is based on His call, not on our own decision. If Peter had just decided on his own to step out of the boat, what do you think would have happened? I think he would have sunk like a rock.

PETER STEPS OUT IN FAITH

Peter did not make a move until Jesus said, “Come”. It is not faith to step out where God did not give you a command to step out...it is foolishness. But just because God gives the command, that does not take away from the faith needed to execute it. There was still a great temptation to have fear instead of faith when stepping out of a boat onto water - especially the first time. Many people are called by God, but they refuse to step out in faith. They are too afraid. The opposite of faith is fear. The opposite of fear is faith.

PETER SINKS IN FEAR

It does not seem that Peter walked on the water very far. He only went from the boat to where Jesus was.

But when he looked around at the high waves,
he was terrified and began to sink.

The lesson that Peter learned here is a lesson for us: Faith requires focus. As long as Peter stayed focused on Jesus, he was fine. When he focused on the storm around him, he started to fall. It is not life’s storms that make us fail; it is how we respond to them. Do we keep our focus...our eyes, our thoughts, our actions on Jesus?

PETER SAVED FROM FAILURE

Peter was saved by Jesus reaching out and grabbing him, keeping him from going under. Jesus’ question - “Why did you doubt Me?” - gives us evidence that Peter began to fail when doubt replaced his faith in Jesus.

As soon as Jesus and Peter got into the boat, the wind stopped and things were calm again on the Sea of Galilee.

This story is usually called the miracle of Jesus walking on the water, but there were really four miracles that took place that night:

First, Jesus calmed the storm. Only God could do that.

Second, Jesus walked on water.

Third, Peter walked on water.

Fourth, this fourth miracle comes from John’s Gospel:

And immediately the boat was at the land where they were going. (John 6:21)

Somehow, as soon as Jesus stepped into the boat, they were on the shore....at their destination.

WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM THIS STORY?

Here are five things this story teaches about storms in our lives. These can help us the next time a storm hits. And a storm will hit us, we can be sure of that. You see, God is giving us the tools we need to deal with storms...God does not keep us out of storms, but He prepares us for storms. God wants us to survive storms.

1. THE TIMING OF THE STORMS IN OUR LIVES

The battering winds that came against the disciples in the boat followed immediately after the powerful miracle experience of feeding 5000. We see that it is only a very few hours later that the disciples are being overpowered by a storm on the Sea of Galilee. They think that Jesus does not know about their trouble.

It seems to me that very often storms hit us right after we have some wonderfully blessed Christian experience. This cycle happened to Elijah, Paul, and the Lord Jesus. So here is a question for you: Why are we surprised when a storm hits us, in this same way, just as in this story?

2. THE TROUBLE WITH STORMS IN OUR LIVES

We are not in control of any part of the storms that come upon us; not the nature, not the timing, not the duration, and not the intensity. The disciples had rowed for hours before Jesus came to them in the fourth watch of the night. The storm did not stop until the very end of their experience on the water. All of us want to know, “How long, Lord?” when they are in the middle of a storm. But we do not need to know this as long as we know He is in control.

Just as our muscles get strong only when they meet resistance, so our faith only grows when it is battling a storm.

As long as we remain strong and do not give up, we are getting stronger. We want storms to end quickly. But their duration is the very thing that makes us stronger as we endure them.

3. THE TESTING IN THE STORMS OF OUR LIVES

Peter had to make a decision to leave the comfort and security of the boat he was in and step out in faith onto the water. He had to become totally dependent upon Jesus. The decision to grow always offers us the choice between risk and comfort. Has God been asking you to do something? Have you been avoiding it because you are just too comfortable right now? Remember, you will never grow as long as you stay in the comfort zone. You will never grow unless you are willing to get out of the boat and onto the water. This is a decision only you can make. Jesus is waiting out on the waters of life for you...waiting to call you if you ask Him to...and waiting to take your hand if you need Him to.

4. THE TRAGEDY OF THE STORMS IN OUR LIVES

The tragedy of this story is that the 11 other disciples never made any effort to get out of the boat. In the Church today there are far too many people who prefer the comfort of the boat. They will never experience the blessings of taking steps of faith. Are you one of these people?

5. THE TRIUMPH OF THE STORMS IN OUR LIVES

Jesus is on the water. If you want to get to Him, you have to get out of the boat and go where He is. It is the storms of our lives that bring us into the deepest intimacy with God...as He reaches out and takes our hand and pulls us up to safety. Many Christians come to know Jesus better as a result of a storm in their life. The same will be true for each of us when we keep our focus on Him and go to Him when He calls our name.

When we are in a storm; cold and all alone, and we see Jesus coming toward us in the dark, we must stay focused on Him if we are to make it.

God gave us this story so we will know that He is faithful and He loves us. He really does. The more we read the Bible, the more we will know that He really loves us.