John 20:25-27 "So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
When persecutors to oppress us, judges to condemn us, centurions to arrest us are banging on the door that we have barricaded ourselves within, it can become hard to believe that a Living God is "ON THE MOVE" in the midst of us. That He is God and that He loves us isn't in question. What is difficult to fathom though is that He cares enough to make His presence known to us so that we can take comfort in the fact that He is alive and "IN CHARGE" of whatever is going on. But HE DOES care that much!
When the Lord's disciple Thomas wouldn't believe that Jesus had indeed visited his comrades he staunchly refused to accept their version of the event as true unless He would be allowed to experience the touch of God for himself. Jesus encountered Thomas intimately a week later, not to prove Himself but to show him that his doubts were unfounded. Though we might have the awareness that God is with us even as we go through uncertainties and difficulties it is important to the Lord that we are able to truly identify His living, powerful presence with us rather than have just a vague sense of His indwelling. God is excited to meet with us personally and to grant us an exclusive interview with Him, but we are warned of desiring for it with doubtfully because to do so would put us at the peril of being blown away by the many kinds of turbulence that threaten to throw us overboard (James 1:6 " But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. ")
It was doubt in apostle Peter's heart that allowed the stormy winds to put fear in him and influence his walk on the water toward Jesus almost causing him to drown in the process (Matthew 14:28-30 "And Peter answered him, “Lord, IF it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.") The cause of our doom is almost certainly the "IF" in our minds concerning the availability of God's help at hand and the extent of its power over our foreboding circumstance.
The scriptures promise that God rules over the tempestuous situations that we encounter (Psalm 29:10 "The Lord sits enthroned over the flood; the Lord sits enthroned as king forever.") The surface of deep waters is not just something that our God trod over as one of the manifestations of His miraculous powers, but it is His very seat right from the very beginning, out of which he called out a fully orchestrated creation of the world (Genesis 1:1-2 " In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.") Therefore, we can be sure that no matter what the chaos, Jesus is the master of it and is certainly going to birth something awesome in our lives through it.
Let's be of good cheer! Even if are finding ourselves in over our heads and our doubts may have caused our feet to almost fail in the depths of the waters we find ourselves in, we are within the arm's reach of our Lord and He is here right now, with us, to lift us up (Matthew 14:31 "Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?")
God Bless.
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