We went on vacation last month. We visited my parents’ house which is near Sedona, Arizona by Oak Creek. The creek makes several ditches that support orchards throughout the area. One day we drove up the river where the water for our ditch began. After doing a little work moving rocks and removing sticks to maintain the ditch, we got into the stream with some small rafts and tubes to float the mile to my parents’ house.
At the beginning there were many people swimming, eating, and playing in their little camps. We were in the Crescent Moon Ranch State Park. None of them brought tubes or rafts like us to run the little river and the rapids. So many people said, “Where are you going?” and “How cool!” I was walking, pulling, and pushing the small raft that had the two youngest of our children: the two and the four year old. We arrived in the last part of the park where the water flows over quite slippery red rocks. In this part people like to slide on their butt or stomach on the rocks and arrive in a deep natural pool where they can swim as they please. Closing in on this section I felt my feet losing their traction. The current carried the raft with my children quickly. The combination of these forces caused me to fall in one big motion onto the wet and slippery rocks!
I have empathy for Peter. He was a disciple of Jesus and had the courage to try walking on the water with Jesus. After a few steps he sank, and cried out to Jesus for salvation. Jesus did save Peter and said, “man of little faith.” Man of little faith. At first it sounds like criticism or insult. It is conventional to try to have a lot of faith, right? We think that a lot will be better than a little. Who doesn’t want a lot of money, a lot of power, a lot of house, a lot of truck, a lot of friends, a lot of opportunities, a lot of blessing, and so on? But what if the Lord is not in hugeness or in “a lot”?
Consider the situation of the prophet Elijah according to 1 Kings 19. The Lord called Elijah up the mountain to receive a prophecy. After going up there a destructive wind passed, a chaotic earthquake hit, and a powerful fire burned. But the Holy Bible says that the Lord was not in the wind, nor the temblor, nor the fire: all great things with much power! Finally a gentle breeze blew; and there was the Lord. Elijah received his message from the Lord in the little movement of the air. God was in the little and small.
This week several great things happened. In my hometown, Sedona, there was an accident and hundreds of thousands of gallons of sewage leaked into the beautiful Oak Creek, preventing anyone from getting into it. Two hurricanes: Isaías and Douglas hit lands in the Atlantic and Pacific with their winds. The Apple fire burned a lot of forest in Southern California. An earthquake touched the city of Rancho Cucamonga. And of course the Covid-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc. Many people ask, Where is God in the storm, the fires, the earthquake, and the pandemic? It may just be that God is not in these great things with a lot of destructive power. The Holy Bible says that the Lord was in the gentle breeze not in the destructive wind. God is in the little and small. God is in the small works that people do to preserve life in the face of gigantic powers. God is with the forest firefighter and his shovel, with the nurse and her loving hands, and with the workers who build shelter after the storm. God is in the little and small.
It may be that Jesus was not criticizing Peter when he called him, “Man of little faith.” It is possible that Jesus was affirming a good work of God in Peter. Little faith is great! Remember that, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to that mountain, move, and it would move.” Jesus was proud of Peter. Man of little faith! You walked through the water!
When I was trying to walk into the rapids pulling the raft with my children, I too fell into the water. Honestly, I was afraid that I would have broken a bone with the force with which I fell. But no. I fell back and there was a little water, but just enough to absorb the impact. I floated behind the raft to the natural swimming hole smiling and enjoying the beauty of the Lord’s creation. Like Pedro I am a man of little faith. I invite you to be a person of little faith too. God does great things with little faith. Amen.
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