Do You Trust God?

~~~ 1 John 4:11-18 ~~~ Psalm 72 ~~~ Matthew 6:45-52 ~~~ 

They had not understood the incident of the loaves. 
On the contrary, their hearts were hardened.

After feeding the five thousand Jesus
sends the disciples out in their boat.
He did not go with them because felt the need
 to go away by himself and pray.

The human person of Jesus was exhausted.
He had been preaching and teaching for many hours.
He preformed one of his greatest miracles.
The baskets of bread and fish never ran out...something
or someone was capable of sustaining them.

Power was constantly streaming forth from Jesus.
He needs to get away just to be alone...
he needs to alone in prayer with the Father.

The disciples evidently were unable to connect the dots.

The disciples had just witnessed Jesus feeding this huge crowd
because he trusted in the Father to hear his prayer.

If the disciples had understood the lesson of trust,
 they had just witnessed they would have reacted very differently
 when the storm tossed their boat around.

It is worth noting here that Jesus let the
disciples weather the storm
 for awhile before he went to them.

The lesson for us just might be that
we should not expect God
 to come running to our assistance
 at the first instance of any storm.

And when Jesus did come the disciples did not
recognize that it was in fact him.

How many times have we been just like the disciples?
How many times have we erroneously
 believed that God was absent?

Then he saw that they were tossed about while rowing,
for the wind was against them. 

Jesus was separated from the disciples but he was
 very much aware of their situation.

They were in fear of losing their lives, yet Jesus
was not going to let that happen.

The disciples needed more experiences in trusting Jesus.
They needed to believe, just as we do, that Jesus
would take care of them.
They needed to have faith that
he would protect them from harm.

Where do you find yourself today in trusting the Lord?
We must trust even when we think he is not around.
We must trust when we think he does not see
 the danger we are experiencing.

It takes great faith and humility to trust in God
when the storms a raging around us,
but then is when it is most needed.

Blessings as we learn to put greater trust in the Lord.
~~~Peace~~~