FAITHFUL LISTENING

Peter getting the wobbles and beginning to sink gives us all a slight chuckle. Each of us can relate to Peter’s momentary loss of faith (Matt 14:22-33). Especially in our extraordinary and difficult times we all waver a little both about the present and the future. “Where are you in all this, Lord?’

Battling a heavy sea with a head-wind in a small open boat would have been frightening enough. The storms threatened to overwhelm the disciples so when they encountered the ghostly Jesus they were doubly petrified. Peter summoned the courage to venture forth towards the Lord but facing the enormity of conditions he panicked and Jesus rescued him. “Man of little faith, why did you doubt?” Jesus asks Peter and he might well ask us.

It ever there was a time for quiet confidence in the Lord this is it. In the 1 Kings passage immediately preceding this, Elijah is afraid, fearing his life’s mission has been a failure and has pretty much had enough but he is persuaded in a dream to take nourishment to journey up the mountain seeking what God wants of him.

Like Elijah we feel battered by circumstances. Elijah’s story gives us direction. God appears, not in catastrophic wind or in earthquake or fire, but in silence. Elijah (1 Kings 19) needed to listen for God’s voice as we do today. Underneath the swirl of terrible events, grand pronouncements and forecasts we need to listen for the gentle breeze, cover our face with our cloak in reverence of God and wait faithfully to hear what God wants of us. God’s Word at the moment is likely to ask small simple things of us.

Being especially aware of the many blessings showered upon us and the many worse off; being alert to the safety needs of the whole community and to needs of others around us. Stepping into the unknown with calm perspective and hope in the future, confident Jesus has our backs.