Since arriving here in Denver & living on the dry grassy plains of Colorado, I have learnt quickly a new respect for the wind that blows upon them. I have noticed how the wind on these plains can appear from nowhere bringing a change so suddenly & so extreme. These winds dominate this landscape & in doing so creates their very unique beautiful character.
The last few days I have been meditating on Matt 14:22-33 & specifically the ‘wind’ in this story. Jesus ‘makes’ his disciples get into a boat & go before Him. So they go & they end up being “tossed about by the waves, for the wind was against them” (14:23).
In Genesis 1 the Spirit of God hovers over the waters (1:2). This word for Spirit is the Hebrew word ‘Ruach’ meaning “wind, breathe, spirit.” A similiar picture now appears in Matthew 14. The wind is over the waters moving & the disciples do not understand what is happening.
You see when God calls you to ‘go before Him’, His wind, His breathe, His spirit is there & it will create something as well as confront something. In the Hebrew mind, this is a picture speaking of God confronting the kingdom of darkness thru the creation of faith in Him.
The wind was “contrary” (14:24). The wind of God will always be contrary to the world, for “the natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, & he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Cor 2:14)
The ultimate thing that His Spirit wants to create in us is faith in God. For the only way to ‘go before Him’ is in faith!
In the midst of this wind, Jesus appears & the disciples testify in fear, “It is a spirit!” The incredible wonder of the love & gentleness of God is demonstrated here as Jesus IMMEDIATELY speaks to them (14:27).
God never wants us to be in a vacuum of understanding for too long, especially when it relates to his ways. When the Holy Spirit moves, we feel & see His wind on us as individuals, families & communities, Jesus is there speaking. He wants us to know things & above all, beckon us onto more faith in Him.
The message in this story is the same as in the previous. It’s all about what GOD can do, not what we do. The feeding of 5000 men thru 5 loaves of bread & 2 fish, was because of what Jesus did, not the boy who had them. If God calls you, He is faithful & HE WILL DO IT. (1 Thess 5:24) He wants you to understand what the wind of His Spirit is doing.