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When Jesus comes!
'During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them.' Matthew 14:25
Night time is when God does some of His best work! It's mentioned in loads of Bible stories, like when the Israelites faced the Red Sea, '...all that night the LORD drove the sea back' (Exodus 14:21 NIV), also, during 'the middle watch' of the night, Gideon defeated the Midianites (Judges 7:19-24), and let's not forget, Jesus rose from the dead before 'daybreak' (Matthew 28:1). Matthew says: '...in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea. When the disciples saw Him ...they were terrified...immediately Jesus spoke..."Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid"' (Matthew 14:25-27 NAS). The 'fourth watch' mentioned here is from 3:00 a.m. 'til 6:00 a.m. Check these two things out:
1) Jesus waited until the storm was so bad that the disciples had lost all hope. That's because God decides the timetable for our rescue, and He's never late
2) the disciples didn't recognise Jesus until He shouted to them.
Often the answer you need is right beside you, but you can't hear it because of all the other chaos you're paying attention to. So now we know this what should we do with it? The answer is simply this: to know that in life there are dark times, guaranteed, but that doesn't matter one bit to God, '...to you; the night will shine like the day...' (Psalm 139:12 NIV). He's always ready and able to save.
written by Bob Gass
'During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them.' Matthew 14:25
Night time is when God does some of His best work! It's mentioned in loads of Bible stories, like when the Israelites faced the Red Sea, '...all that night the LORD drove the sea back' (Exodus 14:21 NIV), also, during 'the middle watch' of the night, Gideon defeated the Midianites (Judges 7:19-24), and let's not forget, Jesus rose from the dead before 'daybreak' (Matthew 28:1). Matthew says: '...in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea. When the disciples saw Him ...they were terrified...immediately Jesus spoke..."Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid"' (Matthew 14:25-27 NAS). The 'fourth watch' mentioned here is from 3:00 a.m. 'til 6:00 a.m. Check these two things out:
1) Jesus waited until the storm was so bad that the disciples had lost all hope. That's because God decides the timetable for our rescue, and He's never late
2) the disciples didn't recognise Jesus until He shouted to them.
Often the answer you need is right beside you, but you can't hear it because of all the other chaos you're paying attention to. So now we know this what should we do with it? The answer is simply this: to know that in life there are dark times, guaranteed, but that doesn't matter one bit to God, '...to you; the night will shine like the day...' (Psalm 139:12 NIV). He's always ready and able to save.
written by Bob Gass
