Our world is a noisy place. Step outside sometime. Listen. The sounds of humanity are everywhere. Airplane engines. Car horns. Air conditioners humming in the night. Even in our homes, refrigerators whirr with suppressed concentration, dishwashers whoosh their suds around, and even our computers whisper with cooling fans and softly clicking keys.
Nature isn’t much quieter. Winds swirl through the branches of trees, birds chirp and chatter, and insects tear up the silence of the night with their own brand of raucous noise. How can we ever get away from all this sound? It makes our head spin, and all we want is to enjoy a bit of silence once in a while.
Jesus felt the same. Certainly, he enjoyed people, and he was a master at dealing with crowds. He was in the thick of the surging masses, teaching and performing the miracles of his Father day after day.
We read of a time in Matthew 14:22, however, when Jesus simply needed to be alone:
“And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away.”
We think of Jesus as always huggy-huggy, but not here. Look at the word “constrained.” Merriam-Webster tells us it means Jesus forced his disciples to leave him alone for a time. They didn’t want to go. Jesus was their trusted source of strength. They had bonded with him, and they truly cared about his welfare and safety. They wanted to remain at his side.
Jesus wagged his finger and said, “Not this time, bub. Down the road with you. This time we’re doing it my way.”
Naturally, that quote’s not in the Bible, but the intent is. Sometimes even God needs us to back off and give him a little quiet time. We need to quit bugging him all the time, and get on with our living, so that he has time to renew his interest in us. Sometimes God just desires to be left alone.
Yet he always comes when we call. Further in this passage in Matthew is where we find the story of the storm and Jesus walking on the water to rescue his flailing disciples. Here we discover something exciting about the nature of our Lord. When we need him, he will be there. At times he desires us to back off on the little things and to give him a break. However, when the winds rise, and the waves threaten, he’ll be right there, walking on the water, and protecting us from the raging sea.
He will show up when we need him every time.
When God seems most distant is when we can trust his rescue to be imminent, for he will show up at the moment of our direst need.
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