When all else fails...

        Many times we don't recognize "help" when it comes. We can be so absorbed in our problems that we miss it.  The disciples were out at sea alone without Jesus. The winds became contrary and it was difficult to control the boat. Jesus came to them walking on the water. They did not recognize him and thought it was a ghost. Mark 6:49 says: "And when they saw Him walking on the sea, they supposed it was a ghost, and cried out." (NKJV) Could it be that they were so caught up with trying to save themselves that they could not recognize their true help?

        So many times we get caught up with trying to save ourselves using our methods and our knowledge. So many times we run to other people as our help and the last one we turn to when all else fails is God Himself. Maybe they could not recognize Jesus because they could not see Him as their "help". They were too busy looking at themselves and each other for help. They were seasoned seamen. They were accustomed to storms and contrary conditions. They knew what to do when these situations arose. Each man knew what his task, his responsibility was. So maybe they were too busy trying to save themselves that they almost missed the real Saviour.
        How many of us are like that? I am. It is so much easier, at times, to look to others first, to look to ourselves first before looking to God. We try everything we can to remedy our situation and when all of our efforts fail, we finally turn to God. I remember one occasion when I was going through a really tough situation in my life and immediately I wanted, even needed, to call someone to talk to them. I did. But guess what? I did not get through because they were apparently not at home at the time. Through that situation and even others after, I realized that sometimes God removes our human support systems because He wants us to come to Him, to lean on Him. As humans we have a natural desire of course to reach out to someone we can touch, we can feel. We can't see God so we tend to run to someone we can see. And so sometimes He moves our human support out of the way just to get us to run to Him instead, the One who has all the help we need even if we cannot physically touch Him or even see Him. 
        Let's not miss God in the midst of our situation. The situation was created to show who God really is. Without that negative situation we would not get to see how big our God really is. We love to praise God "in spite of" the situation. Let's learn to praise Him "for" it because without that situation we would not get to see how "great" our God really is. Yes, we see His greatness in good times but He really gets to "show off" when problems come our way. It is at these times that we see His might, His power, His strength, His ability. Let's learn to thank God for the situation because it draws us closer to Him and helps make us into what He wants us to be.

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