“Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” – I Pet. 5:7(KJV)
It is December, 2011 and, in a few short weeks this Roman year will be over. Then some of us will be staring 2012 right in the face. Many of us saw that apocalyptic saga, 2012 (John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor), that told of a catastrophic event that caused the earth to experience change. As the story went, only the rich and affluent, who could afford the cost of passage on rescue arcs, priced in the euro-billions, were allowed to enter. The rest of mankind was expendable casualties. According to Hollywood, outside of the governments, only the rich and affluent should be allowed to live in the new world order. John and Jane World Citizen have no place in the world of the future. Even the scientist who made the discovery of the impending danger was left behind.
However, that is merely the Hollywood scenario. ‘el has a different plan in place for the future reality of mankind. Yes, there is a change coming. ‘el’s wrath will be poured out upon the earth and at its conclusion the earth will be very different. The price of a ticket to safety from His wrath is not based in euro-dollars. ‘el’s perspective is revealed in part in I Cor. 1:27 where we read –
“But ‘el hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and ‘el hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.”
The wise and the mighty of this world have established their own agenda to promote a system that encourages a life without a dependence on the eternal ‘el of heaven. A system that defines as foolish and weak those who decide to cast all their cares upon Yahh, knowing that He cares for them. But those same weak and foolish people are not fixated on the upcoming Roman year. They are not moved by the fables that abound to increase the fears already dwelling in men’s hearts.
It is so comforting and reassuring to know that the people of ‘el have not been given the spirit of fear, but instead have been given the spirits of power, love, and sound mind (2 Tim.1:7). As terror grows in the hearts of the general population, joy abounds in the hearts of a little flock, who await a grand and glorious day (Luke 12:32).
The spirit of fear is a powerful weapon. It can make a person do things that they would not ordinarily consider doing. There is a phrase that surfaces when a person acts out of fear to do something negative, bizarre and out-of-character: the devil made me do it! It is so true though. The devil did make them do it. However, they seldom realized that they were complicit in the deed. They do not acknowledge that they chose to cooperate. But fear can also be a catalyst for positive change and motivate a separation from the wiles of the devil.
There is an interesting and thought provoking experience shared with us in the book of Matthew-chapter 14 of the Holy Bible. We see a group of men, in a boat, out in the middle of the sea. The sea is tossing and turning. They look up and see someone/something walking on the waters toward them and they are afraid. After what they see identifies himself, they recognize that it is Yehoshua’ Mashiyach. He tells them to not be afraid. Peter, one of the men on the boat, responds to this command, receiving a burst of courage, and cries out.
Mat 14:28 – And Peter answering him said, `Sir, if it is thou, bid me come to thee upon the waters;
Mat 14:29 – And He said, `Come’; and having gone down from the boat, Peter walked upon the waters to come unto Yehoshua’,
Mat 14:30 – But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Yahh, save me.
Mat 14:31 – And immediately Yehoshua’ stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?
Matthew shares this event that illustrates a range of experiences for Peter; from fear, to bold courage, to a glimpse of the supernatural, back to fear, and culminating in a miraculous divine intervention. Remember, that there were still others on the boat watching this take place. I wonder what was going through their minds as they witnessed this event.
But if only for a few moments, Peter responded to Mashiyach’s command to not be afraid. He conquered his fear, did get out of the boat and walk upon the waters. It was only as he was distracted by the tossing waves around him that he allowed himself to again be afraid. He then began to sink…he did not plunge into the waters and drown…he then began to sink. Peter will always remember that he did walk on the water. To get out of that boat represented multiple levels of courage and victory for Peter. What an encouraging memory for the future trials, tribulations and testings he would face. What an encouraging memory for the other men who witnessed this event from the tossing boat.
Getting out of the boat threatens its stability. There is a chance that the boat will rock even more, tilt even further, or maybe flip over all together. Getting out of the boat jeopardizes the others still in the boat.
The average person does not want to rock the boat; they merely want to remain safely in it. To exit and stand outside the boat, separates you from those in it. Remaining outside the boat can open you up to a plethora of discomforting conditions, i.e. rejection and reprisal inflicted by those still inside the boat. You can imagine the barrage of questions from those inside who want to know why you are outside.
Life has shown us that fear of rejection and reprisal encourages people to participate in a wrong action rather than to stand alone to defend a right action. You yourself may have a memory of an experience where the pressures of others caused you to do something that you later regretted. Whether it was a commission or an omission, you realized, after the fact, that you had made the wrong choice.
Choosing to get out of the boat also means that a decision has to be made to choose one thing as a right action over something else. Making these kinds of choices relegates things into categories: good and bad, right and wrong, positive and negative, pleasurable and dis-pleasurable, holy and unholy, etc. Choices-decisions have consequences-rewards.
However, the Holy Bible teaches that the whole world has been deceived by the devil; therefore, the whole world can identify something as right, when it is actually wrong, if viewed by a different standard. So just because everybody is in the boat, doing the same thing, dressed the same way, eating the same food, drinking the same beverage, does not make it right, by default. Hmm…Yes, everybody can be wrong, contrary to popular opinion.
An unpopular opinion-absolutes- says that there is a time-tested standard that is right, just because it is right! There is A Truth and then there is error. But you have to choose it as YOUR Truth in order to benefit from it. So, if The Truth is walking on storm tossed waters saying “come”, and The Truth is what you seek, you have to get out of the comfort zone of your boat to meet it head on, where it is, in spite of the wind and waves around you.
Like Peter, you have to recognize The Victorious Truth walking on those stormy raging tempests and decide that you too want to walk like that; even if for only a few short moments, this time. Who knows how long your walk will be the next time, and the time after that, and the time after than!
from the inside out,
this is jaye michelle;
shalom!
