Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
How do you feel today? You could have a plethora of different responses depending on who you are. You may think, oh my goodness, I am just feeling it today. I'm feeling down. Some of you could be feeling great, but why is that? Why do we have these differences in the way we feel in the moment or in the day?
A lot of times it's whatever is going on or something happened or somebody said something or hurt your feelings. A lot of your feelings drive where you're at in life and where you perceive yourself to be, and how you perceive your current situation to be. What if we can get past that? What if it could be different than that?
Our feelings aren't necessarily contingent on what somebody says or our circumstances around us. That's why I love our Verse of the Day today. It's Psalm chapter 62 and verse 2, and this is what it says. It says He alone, meaning God. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress, where I will never be shaken.
Imagine that—I will never be shaken. The psalmist doesn't say, depending on what's going on in my life, if it's going great, I will never be shaken. I love that the psalm says it's not contingent on the circumstances around me of how I feel or what's going on. I will never be shaken.
Walking on Water: A Picture of Faith
One of the best biblical illustrations of this is Peter walking on the water, and I would just love to take a little bit of time and just unpack it a little bit.
Jesus was speaking to a multitude of people. He sends His disciples ahead and said, go off in the boat, go across, and I'll meet you. Meanwhile, He's saying goodbye. He's letting go of the people for Him to now take some time. Guess what? He starts walking across the water. Can you imagine? Jesus saying, yeah, I'll be right there. I'll be right with you. And I'll just be walking on the water. Imagine that realization. When the apostles looked up from their boat on the water, and they see Jesus walking on the water, and I love the raw passion of Peter, that he jumps out of the boat and starts walking on the water to Jesus.
The interesting thing, though, is when he sees and feels the wind and the waves around him, all of a sudden that's what gets his focal point and he starts to sink. Then Jesus walks over to him, takes him by the hand, and He says, keep your eyes on Me. As He does, He lifts him up out of the water.
The Power of Focus
If we unpack that a little bit more, what was it that drove Peter to do this crazy thing, to jump out of the boat in the first place? If you actually took some time to think about it, there is no way in the world I would jump out of the boat and think I was going to walk on water, but it was the presence of Jesus that was the most significant part of that moment for Peter. It wasn't that the wind and the waves all of a sudden start happening. Those existed even before he jumped out of the boat, but he wasn't paying attention to those. Why? Because he saw Jesus walking on the water. Jesus' presence was the most significant thing in that moment. It's like, I don't care about the wind or the waves. I want to come to you. Bid me to come to you. And when Jesus said, come, he starts walking across the water.
Isn't that the way it is in our lives, in our Christian lives? We accept Jesus. We jump out of the boat of our sin. We start doing something supernatural. We have freedom from our sin. We start walking with Jesus, and all of a sudden the circumstances around us start getting our attention.
That starts becoming the most significant part of our situation at the time. If we're not careful, we can tend to sink in the midst of it. If you find yourself there, I would just encourage you. This verse says He's our rock to never be shaken. When we think about walking on water, imagine if Jesus is the rock underneath your feet, whether it's water or anything else, He's got you.
If you're sinking in the midst of your circumstances, let Him pull you out of it and remind you to keep your eyes fixed on Him.
