Annie
Scriptures: Psalm 27 Matthew 14: 22-33 Ephesians 6:10-18
When you wake up each day, what is your expectation for that day? In amongst the busy chaos of most households, the morning is often the most chaotic. There are breakfasts to supervise, lunches to prepare, appointments to keep, meetings at work to rush off to, or just the mundane ordinariness of getting up and getting going. So much to force us to be totally involved with everything but God.
I have a friend who has gained so much lately from the story of Peter actually walking on the rough, windswept, storm tossed waves towards Jesus. It is a wonderful portrait of the amazing Mercy of Jesus, reaching out to catch Peter when Peter’s eyes drifted to the stormy seas and he felt himself sinking. I wonder what Peter’s expectation was of what would happen as he stepped out of that boat. For an instant, he must have expected to be able to walk to Jesus, until his human mind shattered that expectation when he saw the winds and waves that told him there was no way he could do that. As soon as that thought became uppermost in his mind, and his eyes registered the impossibility of what he was trying to do, walking on water just did not make any sense at all. Particularly storm tossed, wind swept, crashing waves.
This encounter has made me ponder how my expectations can be so affected by the circumstances around me. In Psalm 27, David is full of adoration and praise to God, he catalogues how God has rescued him, time and time again. There is a thankfulness that culminates in him telling us that he would have lost heart unless he had expected, believed, to see the Goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Despite being chased by enemies, despite all his human failings, David knew that it was only the Goodness of the Lord, mercifully and abundantly flowing from God, that kept him going. In amongst all the chaos of his life, his expectation was that God’s Goodness and Mercy were pursuing him, that he would indeed witness God’s Goodness in the land of the living.
We are so often faced with distractions and events that would attempt to destroy any expectation we may have of seeing God’s Goodness in our daily walk. Flaming arrows that may not be attempting to injure or kill us, but whose purpose is to divert our gaze from looking to Jesus. While Peter kept his eyes on Jesus, he could do the impossible; while David kept his expectation pure, he could indeed see God’s Goodness in his life. And while we lift God’s shield of Faith that we carry, we will be able to repel the flaming arrows and keep our focus on the only One who is all Goodness and Mercy.
As children of the One True God we are all being pursued each day by Him as He guides and guards our steps in our journey here on Earth. He is the only true Goodness and Mercy that exists, it is His Goodness and His Mercy that we need to be seeking, so that He can fill us to overflowing in order that we can display His nature to this fallen world. As God’s children we should be excited and full of joy that it is God’s delight to do this for us, to smile on us, to be so tenderly and lovingly involved with us. He desires so immensely for us to see His Goodness wherever we may go, He longs for us to open our eyes and hearts to find Him and immerse ourselves in His exuberant joy and love.
Prayer: Abba Father, may our expectation always and for all our walk on this Earth be for us to see Your Goodness and Your Mercy in the land of the living. In Jesus Mighty Name we pray, Amen
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