The Dark

I love driving down country roads and reading all the local church signs. Recently I came across one that has stayed on my mind. Probably because it spoke directly to the Bible study I’m currently doing, Walking by Faith by Jennifer Rothschild. Here's a picture.

The question I keep coming back to is this…can this be said of me? Do I really want to walk with God in the dark? When I’m not sure what is happening in my life or what the next step is for me, does my life say “I’d rather walk with God in this?” Do my actions, attitude and/or speech tell others I’m walking with God? Or do they say I’d really rather have some “light” on this situation? Seriously, I don’t want to walk around my own house in the dark and I know where everything is!

In this past week’s lesson, Jennifer had us look at one of my favorite stories in the Bible. It’s the story of Peter walking on the water with Jesus. You can read about it in Matthew 14:22-33. Often we hear this story used to illustrate a lack of faith, or what happens when we take our eyes off of God and focus on the storms of life. For me there was another lesson this week.
Peter asks Jesus, if it’s Him to bid him come. Peter doesn’t just want to go with any cool person who happens to walk on water. He wants to be with Jesus! After Peter gets scared and starts to sink, the passage says Jesus reaches out his hand to Peter. The next verses say they get back in the boat and the winds die down. I’m thinking Jesus walked (on the water) back to the boat with Peter. It was dark; the storm was still happening; but Jesus didn’t leave Peter.

No doubt I am a little biased toward Peter. My life is full of spontaneous moments that have gotten me into trouble or at least a slap on the hand much like we read of Peter! I can’t help but think that what if in the “dark” instead of asking God to shed light, I ask God if it’s Him, let me come to Him, let me walk with Him. My focus is no longer on me, but on the One who is directing my life. The One who made me, knows me, and watches out for me. Jesus is the One who knows where I might stub my toe, walk into a wall or fall flat on my face. When my focus is on the One, the dark is not so scary.