The Master’s Voice

by Brent Goodge

Have you ever ridden the emotional roller coaster? It seems we all experience the feeling sometimes. One moment life is great. The next, the entire world seems to come caving in around us. As Christians, we all want to put on good faces. We polish up our testimony of broken lives before we met Christ and how everything is different now. And in the best sense, that is, or at least should be, true. If the peace offered to us in Christ doesn’t change the entire outlook of our existence, there’s a serious problem.

But often in our quiet moments, when we don’t have to be strong, how often do we see the waves of life crashing around us and wonder, “Why?” Matthew 14, Mark 6, and John 6 tell a story to remind us this question is not new.

Almost a year earlier, Jesus had angered the religious leaders by clearing the temple of their profiteering (John 2). Jesus had recently been rejected by his childhood friends and neighbors (Mark 6). John the Baptist had just been beheaded (Matthew 14). And of the relatively few who believed in Jesus, many would be turning against Him within 24 hours (John 6).

In the midst of all the failures to obtain popular support to make Jesus king, the feeding of the five thousand seemed to the disciples to be the perfect opportunity. Jesus took a small boy’s lunch and fed close to twenty thousand people. A leader who could feed vast armies, heal the wounded, and even raise the dead was a leader who could restore Israel to the top of the Mediterranean food chain.

The disciples’ hopes rose to a fevered pitch. This was the moment! Their dreams were coming true. They were no longer following a no-name. They were going to be the cabinet for the new King of Israel.

And then Jesus messed everything up. He told the disciples to take a boat across the lake. Jesus dispersed the crowd. And then He disappeared up the hill to pray alone. The disciples were crushed. The opportunity had vanished. They sullenly left the dock for the opposite shore. A terrible storm arose. The storm was so severe that even these seasoned sailors were sure all hope was lost. They were going to die. And then they saw it. They weren’t sure what it was, but Something or Someone was walking on the water. Then It spoke. “Be of good cheer! It is I. Do not be afraid” (Matthew 14:27). Inside the boat, Jesus asked, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” (Matthew 14:31).

From the pride and jubilation of the afternoon, to the sullen disappointment of the evening, to utter despair of life itself in the storm, to solemn awe in the presence of the Master. The disciples had been through it all. When all hope had died, the voice of the Master changed their world. Will we, of little faith, allow His voice to change ours?