Skip to main content

It's A Ghost

 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.

But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” (Matthew 14:25-27)

We should keep in mind that the disciples had been awake all night in a storm on the middle of the lake. They were scared, stressed, and tired, so it’s not entirely unexpected for them to not be thinking clearly when a figure approached them. And, I have to wonder how they even saw Him. It was storming, and it was “shortly before dawn,” so there wasn’t a lot of light. Did He glow? Was He close before they saw Him?

For whatever reason, in their fear and exhaustion, they mistook Him for a ghost, and their heightened fear suggests that they didn’t consider ghosts to be benign spirits. More to the point, they took what was meant for their benefit and aid as something else, something dangerous.

That leads to two bits of wisdom. First, we need to keep in mind that when we’re too anything: tired, afraid, angry, stressed, infatuated, excited, hurt, etc., we aren’t likely to see clearly. In those “low light” circumstances, we’re more likely to misinterpret our experiences.  

Secondly, as I’ve noted before, strong emotions tend to reduce the universe to the size and shape of their perceived causes. I’ve heard that Scripture tells us 365 times “Do not fear.” It also tells us to have courage, be strong, and to have faith. We’re to cast our anxiety on God and, as described yesterday, seek His wisdom not only about what to do, but when to do it. But all of that requires that we deny our instincts. It means we should not make decisions at times when we want and feel we must make the decisions now because we are emotionally engaged.

There are some decisions I need to make at some point, and it frustrates me that I have to make them and have everything happen quickly. If I have to make the decision, let’s get it done and over with. The idea that a decision might have to be made in five years or ten  years is frustrating, but what I’m sensing from God is that right now, I’m supposed to be saying, “I’m willing” rather than “It should have been done yesterday.”

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen To Him

              The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him . (Deuteronomy 18:15)           Today, we switch from Jesus’ claims of “I am” to prophecies made about Him. My Bible platform is starting in Deuteronomy. I’d start in Genesis, where we would learn that the one who would save us would be a descendant of Eve (Genesis 3:15), of Noah (by default), Abram and Sara(Genesis 12:1-3). Isaac (Genesis 17:19), Jacob (Genesis 25:23), Judah (Genesis 29:8), and David (II Samuel 7:12-16). There were also references to a new covenant (Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 36:22-32). In addition, there were prophecies about when and where the prophet/Messiah would be born and what would happen to him.           Of course, naysayers will claim that Jesus’ life was retrofitted or reverse enginee...
Post a Comment
Read more