We had Guest speaker, Wayne Anderson, at our church a few weeks ago and ever since his sermon, I have been meditating on one powerful line that he shared. "Sometimes we are afraid of the answers more than the problems."
During the service I remember I was a little antsy, just tired and distracted...but I tried to focus on what he was saying because I knew God was using him. He began speaking about these scriptures:
Matthew 14
24But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary.
25And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.
26And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.
He went on to say something so profound...it spoke to me then and still is today.
The disciples were in a boat...the wind was fierce and strong...the waves were huge and wild...they were scared out of their mind (for lack of better words.) Wouldn't you be? Jesus was not with them at that moment, the verses beforehand say that he had gone to a mountain to pray alone. I can imagine the disciples crying in fear..."God help us!" "What do we do?" "We don't want to die." Their faith had been so diminished by their "circumstance" that they probably felt very helpless and possibly hopeless. I imagine they prayed..hard for an ANSWER.
All of a sudden, Jesus appears...walking on water!! Read verse 26 above again. They were troubled and cried out for fear because they thought Jesus was a ghost. Jesus told them to not be afraid and that it was him....
Wayne went on to say that how many times do we pray for an answer to something, yet when the answer comes we are more afraid of IT more than the circumstance...
Praying for a new job? The job of your dreams presents itself and boom...you are feeling inadequate, you are fearful that you are not the man or woman for the job...you are doubting yourself.
Praying for a new house? God blesses you with that house that you have had your eye on and all of a sudden you are fearful because you will have to work another job to afford it or there are leaks in the ceiling that you have to take care of before moving in, etc.
Praying for a spouse? God brings him/her into your life and you are now fearful of commitment, or not being all that he/she needs or wants. You are afraid of failure and aren't willing to step out in faith.
You get the idea. God is so good though and faithful to our every cry...our every problem. He himself is the answer to all that we need and want. We just need to TRUST HIM in all things. Great and small.
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