Title Matthew 14:22-33 Alone and Together
Contents Matthew 14:22-33
The saints must stand before God 'alone' and create history with the saints 'together'. First, it is faith that 'stands alone' before God.
Life after Adam is a solitary existence. There are families and many people around, but there is no 'that one' to be with. What should I do? We must stand alone before God by faith. Rather, it is to meet God in the loneliness of life. Blessed is the life of being alone, feeling the living God, discovering who I am, and finding meaning and gratitude in my repeated life.
When I strive to stand 'before God' rather than 'before people', my soul will be enriched. In the text, Jesus hurries away the disciples and the crowd, who are excited by the five-year-old incident. And you have time to be 'alone' by yourself.
Maybe there are too many people around me? Isn't that too much to lean on? Even if you have a lot of money and lack nothing, you must be poor in spirit. Even if you are surrounded by people, your soul must be lonely. There are monks in the wilderness monastery. It is said that in the evening when the sun goes down, they walk through the desert. It's not about walking in pairs and whispering to each other. Everyone is alone. As it gets darker, I walk alone in the desert and experience the presence of God.
The Bible is the story of such people. Moses receives a calling and power in the lonely wilderness of Midian. Jacob met God in lonely Bethel. Hezekiah, who was stricken with the disease of death, received the blessing of extending life when he sought God 'alone' toward the wall without looking for anyone.
Therefore, we need time to meditate alone before God. You must enter through the narrow door. You need an understated table. You need to take off your extravagant clothes. You need the simplicity of your life to be swept away. I hope you will become a saint who stands alone before God in the deep loneliness of life.
Therefore, those who stand alone before God must have faith to stand with others. Faith is to stand 'alone' before God and 'together' with those you love. That is the sharing of love.
Where there is sharing of love, God is there. Just as a person who walks in the rain needs someone to walk with him rather than an umbrella, and a person who is crying needs a warm heart to lean on and cry more than a handkerchief, he tells each other to be that kind of person. He tells us to become such people who can lift each other up on the dark road and lean on each other with sore legs. I hope you will cultivate beautiful faith before God alone and with the saints.