If I were to ask you to draw a picture of Jesus and Peter during that incredible walking-on-water scene, which direction would Jesus be facing? Would he be facing Peter or looking away? My guess is that ten out of ten people would portray Jesus with his gaze immovably fixed on his disciple as that young man stutter-stepped his way atop the waves. How could he not watch Peter trying to navigate the liquid terrain? On so many occasions as a pastor, sufferers of this thing called life ask me, “Where was God?”
Where was God when my kid ran away?
Where was God when my wife was in the car accident?
Where was God when my boss misrepresented me and caused me to lose my job?
Where was God when my family could barely make ends meet all those months?
Where was God when the bottom was falling out?
Where was God when you were struggling with whatever you were last struggling with?
Where was God when I was wrestling with depression?
Where was God, you ask? Right there, watching you. Watching me. Watching every person who ever has suffered any misfortune. “The eyes of the Lord are in every place,” Proverbs 15:3 promises, “watching the evil and the good,” Which means that while you and I may temporarily lose sight of Jesus, he never loses sight of us. He “ever lives to make intercession” for us, Romans 8:34 says…our Savior, ever ready to help.
Think of it: Regardless of the storm you’re presently facing, there is Jesus, eyes fixed on you, lips moving in prayer to the Father on your behalf
He sees.
He knows.
He cares.
He is near.
He is here.
And he is eager to intervene.
Not only does Jesus see us when we’re struggling but he also comes to us. Remember, the account involving Peter occurred during the darkest hour of the night. And here, at the bleakest point, is when Jesus showed up. I think about that scene from time to time when my circumstances taunt me.
“You’re always on time,” I tell God, as though he doesn’t already know that to be true. Have you ever thought about that? God is never early. He is never late. He is always on time. His intervention is always perfectly timed. “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son,” says Romans 8:29, “in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” Those circumstances that we begrudge are the very tools in the hands of the Master that chip away what doesn’t belong as we become more and more like Christ. Those financial storms and relational storms and emotional storms and health-related storms we beg God to take away? Each storm is serving the purpose of making us more like him.
Even so, at the right moment, when we are just sure we’re going under, Jesus shows up to remind us that the very situations that assail us remain utterly under his feet. The misfortune is under his feet. The job loss is under his feet. The fear is under his feet. The hunger is under his feet. The affair is under his feet. The addiction is under his feet. The abuse is under his feet. Everything that threatens us is under the feet of Jesus, whom God chose to make right the brokenness of this fallen world by humbly facing death on a cross. Which is why I can tell you with 100 percent certainty that this Christ is worthy of our steadfast faith.
Jack Graham appears on LIFE TODAY this Tuesday and Thursday. This is an excerpt from Reignite by Jack Graham. Copyright ©2021 by Jack Graham. Published by Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group. Used by permission.
