UK 8:25{" Lo I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world," are the assuring and comforting words of Jesus to His own at the close of the Gospel of Matthew. The assurance of His abiding presence with them, coupled with the statement, "all power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth." It is this consciousness of the personal presence of Jesus, and the realization that all power is in the hands of Him who is with us, that gives the heart such entire rest during the journey of life to the land of glory.
It is not enough to know, and to know clearly and certainly, that by His death He has saved us; that through Him we have eternal life and /are accepted in righteousness in Him as risen from the dead; that He intercedes for us, and watches Over us at the right hand of God in Heaven; and that at any moment He may come to take us out of the scenes and circumstances of this life to be with Himself in the Father's house; the soul may know all this, and yet be restless and unhappy by reason of what it is passing through down here on the " troubled sea of life." The living presence of Jesus, with the knowledge of the boundless resources of His hand, alone can carry the heart in peaceful repose above this troubled sea.
Christ is, and ever is, all that in His love He declares Himself to be. With Him nothing changes. He is " the same yesterday, to day, and forever." And not only does He Himself never change, but once having taken a place in nearness to us He never leaves it. Nothing in us can alter Him. Nothing we do ever puts Him one hair's breadth distance from us.
Not only does He say, "I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you," but "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee," is the assurance He gives with it. All this depends upon Himself. Upon Him who alone can say "I will," as being divinely competent to will, and be all His own blessed heart prompts Him to be.
Infinitely blessed for us is it that this is so. But alas, how much our poor hearts live outside His blessed presence. I say, " our poor hearts," for this is all it can be, for actually near Him, or rather He near us, we ever are. We can distrust Him; it is all we can do, but His love and power are ever in activity to bless us, and to recall us to the sense of. His presence, and when recalled, we hear no rebuke from Him save the one that touches our hearts most nearly, "where is your faith?"
Most touching and instructive is that scene on the lake of Galilee, where these memorable and affecting words fell from the lips of Jesus. With wonder and amazement did those loved ones with Him witness the display of power that saved them, as they supposed, from a watery grave; but surely those words should have taught them how groundless were all their fears.
They knew He was with them. They turned to Him in their distress. But, oh! how little they knew the love and fullness of the One they had with them. Could the boat sink in which Jesus was? Could the tempest-tossed waves of the lake of Galilee engulf the Son of God? Could the waters of creation forget their Maker, and cause Him to " perish " whose word had called them into existence? Their eyes were shut to all this, and His words and acts of goodness did but cause their hearts to tremble in another way, as their little bark became still beneath the word of Him who had stilled "the ragings of the water." Outside now all was "calm," and, as to circumstances, cause for fear there was none, and yet we read, " they, being afraid, wondered, saying one to another, what manner of man is this! for He commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey Him."
Poor disciples I Is this all, as yet, you have learned of Him who journeys with you along “ life's troubled sea?" First to distrust the One who journeys with you, and then to fear and wonder at the answer His love gives to the cry of your distress that has roused Him from His rest?
Is this the only language of our hearts, as we gaze upon these companions of Jesus? Alas! for our hearts if it be so. True we know more of Him than they did, but do we trust Him more? We have seen more of His wonder working power, but are we less taken aback sometimes, when in answer to our cry of distress, He has wrought a deliverance for us?
They ought to have behaved differently, and they were well rebuked by the blessed Lord, who so loved them, in those words of pity and reproach, " Where is your faith?" But do not these words more fitly search our own hearts, than enlighten our eyes about theirs? Are any words more to the point for ourselves than these? With all, we know of Jesus, and We do know infinitely more than they did, for love has fully shown itself to us, so that there is even no more to know, do we honor Him in proportion More? or rather can we not say We honor Him less? and that these words are a standing reproach to us, meeting us at every twist and turning of life down here, as it to keep us in the abiding sense of His presence, who, ever with us, has no path for us with Himself save by faith?
" Where is your faith," as falling on our ears from His own lips, not only recalls us to the sense of His presence, but reveals to us the cause of all our distress. A distress we often attribute to some chantre in the circumstances that surround us, rather than to the change in our hearts concerning Him who is with us in the midst of the circumstances. Circumstances, too, not only in the midst of which He is, but into the midst of which He leads us with Himself, and over which He has the most complete control.
A moment's glance at the scene we have before us will show us this. Not only was Jesus with the disciples in the boat, but He it was who said, " Let us go over unto the other side." They but did His bidding when "they launched forth," and as they thus sailed under His guidance, " He fell asleep." Had He made a mistake in thus taking them on to the lake, and exposing them to this, to them, unlooked for "storm of wind on the lake?" Was it selfishness that made Him fall asleep, and leave them exposed to the dangers that came upon them through His will, as if indifferent to their feats? It would almost seem as if some such thoughts as these were in their minds as they wake Him and exclaim, " Master, Master, We perish!" or, as it is put in Mark, " carest Thou not that we perish?"
And do we never question the love and wisdom of Him who guides our fragile bark over the seas of time? Do we never, as it were, wake our Lord in words implying that He is forgetful of our difficulties?
His love now, as then, is above all our weakness and wretchedness, and in mercy He oftentimes makes for us a calm in our circumstances, while He humbles us by the words, that spew the folly of our fears, " Where is your faith?" Is there more danger when the waves rage, or less when they are calm? Are our hearts tossed upon the raging wave, or quiet only on the still one; if so, it is no question of Christ in the boat with us, our hearts are on the waves, and not on Him who is on the waves with us. Is He disturbed by the raging waves? Had the disciples looked on the sleeping Jesus, and felt who He was, and thought of the love that brought Him to be with them, they would have had no fears, and they would not have waked Him, while at the right moment He would have stilled the waves, and owned the faith that had trusted Him, and rested in Him while circumstances seemed all Against them.
Yes, blessed be His name, Jesus is the author of our journey from shore to shore. He is with us in the boat, and all we have to do is to keep our eye on Him, and then raging waves or smooth waves are all the same. The storms of life we cannot escape, they are part of His wise -ways with us, and, though for the moment He puts forth 'no arm of strength to still the storm, faith rests in the love that travels with us, and orders all things well.
Such should be the abiding condition of our souls, and all else is but sin and unbelief, still do we forget Him, and for the moment lose sight of Him, or even question, in our unbelief, His care of us, all He says to us is, "Where is your faith?" He does not disguise from us the truth. '"In the world ye shall have tribulation," He plainly tells us, but He adds, "In me ye shall have peace."
The blessed Lord, in His grace, keep our eye simply resting by faith upon Himself till we see Him, and are with Him in glory.