SIDE A SIDE B: God Will Rescue You

Notes and reflections on the second talk of the “Side A Side B” preaching series at the Feast Valle Verde April 11, 2021

God wants a one-on-one with you.

It has become a noisier world since the advent of social media. And now with the pandemic, our screens have become even more littered with fake news, bullying, shaming, messy arguments and bad-mouthing. Everyone wants to be an expert, an influencer, a creator. While there’s wisdom in seeking the counsel of learned people on certain areas of expertise, we are all being called by God to find time to pause, to set aside times when we will just choose to be silent and open to only His still small voice. As the psalm goes, “When you hear His voice, harden not your hearts.” Such quiet prayer times are the meeting place of our ultimate thirst for God’s love and will for our lives, and His longing to love and save us. As our preacher and Feast builder Bro Obet Cabrillas always say, “a prayerless servant is a powerless servant”. Hence, prayerful servants are powerful servants! Life is a long conversation of conversion-- so choose your conversations well.

God will allow you to enter storms.

In Matthew 14:22, Jesus insisted on His disciples that they should cross to the other side of the lake. For sure, he already knew the dangers that await them on that route. And yet, he allowed them to go, he allowed the storm in the lake to happen to them.

Taken from the wrong perspective, it might make some of us think that this is God causing harm to his people. But, this is what’s actually called “God’s permissive will”. Sometimes, in his infinite and unfathomable love and plans for us, he allows us to go through the toughest storms-- only because he knows that there are certain lessons in life that can only be learned and earned in darkest waters and deepest pain. Everything works for the greater good of those who love and seek the Lord-- yes, everything, including our most dreaded seasons in life. He knows that we can and we will overcome, that we will come out stronger and even more faithful to our God who never leaves nor abandons us.

Following Jesus isn’t about avoiding problems but about learning to conquer them in faith, and in the process, transform ourselves. We’ll never know how strong we are, and how strong our God is, until we find ourselves rising above the worst of storms. As the saying goes, “Don’t pray for an easy life, pray instead for a meaningful one.”

God’s timing is perfect.

The setting of the story in the Bible where Jesus walked on water was at the “fourth watch of the night”, that is between 3:00AM to 6:00AM-- the darkest part of the night which takes place right before the sun shines again and a brand new day comes.

Perhaps you have also heard or seen the quote “The sky is darkest before dawn”, which inspires us to continue to hope for better things to come, especially during the times when everything seems to be getting darker and darker.

Many times, God also chooses to come into our lives at the “fourth watch of the night”-- at that time when we are already too desperate for a miracle. It is in those moments that we start to doubt if God is real or if He will ever really show up or worse, that’s when we start wanting to do things our way, to compromise our values or to just give up on the situation and on ourselves altogether.

But our God is the ultimate buzzer beater! Cliche as it may seem, but it’s really true that God’s timing is always perfect-- never too early, never too late. We get frustrated a lot of times because we insist on our own timeline that doesn’t align with His. Today’s talk reminds us to hold on and trust in His perfect timing and plans again.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 He makes all things beautiful in His time.

Galatians 6:9 Let us not grow tired in doing good, for in due time, we shall reap our harvest, if we do not give up. On the day when our hopes and dreams come true, we’ll be able to look back in hindsight and realize that God’s time will always be the best time.

God is still in charge.

In Matthew 14:26-30, the disciples were terrified when they saw Jesus walking on water. But Jesus said to them, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” And so, Peter told Jesus that if it is really Him, he should enable him to walk on water towards him, too. “Come”, Jesus said. Without hesitation, lo and behold, Peter did walk on water! But when he saw the wind, he began to sink and cried, “Lord, save me!”

Sounds familiar? A lot of us can relate to this in so many ways. The water in this verse represents a place of fear and of things that we cannot control. The troubled water in this story represents all the chaos in our lives. But above it, there is Jesus, our Lord over chaos. When we know how sovereign our Lord is, what is there left to scare and terrify us?

A lot of us have also learned to walk on water during the honeymoon stage of our personal relationship with God. But in the middle, just like Peter, we lost it. The stronger and stronger winds and waves snatched our eyes away from Jesus. But also like Peter, we can cry out to our God and allow him to save us like only He can do.

Today we are reminded to draw our eyes and our faith back to Christ. Don’t just look at your circumstances, look at Jesus.

God still will rescue you.

Jesus immediately reached out Peter and asked him why he doubted. This story is not about how strong our faith should be, but primarily about how strong God’s love for us already is

Our faith might falter, our hopes may be gone and our love might wane, but only His love will sustain us. Before you make this passage about how we should behave, read it first as a passage about how God behaves. It all boils down to our awareness and confidence of who God is. God will rescue you when you lack faith.

Despite our doubts and worries over situations that consume us, God will continue to be there for us. Even the ability to trust God is a gift from God. He will use the situation to our advantage. God will rescue you even when you fail Him. Why? It is because faith is a relationship. Faith Is a journey with its ups and downs. God knows that we will fail. But then, He will still lead us over the waters. Because faith is a journey, it takes time for our faith to grow.