WHY ME?
I guess it is a human trait for our species to ask the question, “Why me?” There are occasions that a collective population may ask the same thing. During the time of this virus pandemic many of us are asking the same question. For someone who have lived in South Florida the image might be like being placed in the muck of the Everglades with no boat or dry land in sight. It takes a lot of effort to pick up your leg, hearing that sucking sound, and to take your next step. There is the fear that the next step could lead you closer to an alligator or coral snake. This is how it feels to a population of humans when they are enduring something so overwhelming with no immediate end in sight.
Of course, another trait of the human species is that we tend to be “navel gazers”; meaning, we often think only about ourselves. The Coronavirus19 pandemic is not the first event in history causing people to ask, “Why me?” I could not imagine what it was like living in London during World War II and the “Battle of Britain” was raging; where every night you had to wonder if you were next, because your friend or family along with their home was blown up last night. OR, what if you lived in Rome when the Germanic tribes were invading and destroying the empire that had thrived for two-thousand years! OR, what it was like for the residents of Atlanta when Sherman and his army marched through practicing what now is called “a scorched earth tactic”? My point is that there have been many times throughout history where people have considered the question, “Why me?”, and yet, humanity has trod and thrived into the future.
In Matthew 14: 22-33, Jesus had told the disciples to head out to sea without him. Jesus stayed behind to pray and when he finished, he began walking on the water toward their boat. Right away the disciples were afraid because they could not believe it was Jesus walking to them and thought he was a ghost! When he got closer and told them to not be afraid, Peter challenged Jesus, “If it really is you (meaning you are not a ghost) then tell me to come and walk to you.” Jesus tells him to start walking and Peter does. However, when Peter began to think of himself in the middle of the wind and waves – to think of the impossibility of what he was doing – he began to sink. “Lord, save me!” When Peter had taken his eyes off Jesus and began thinking about himself, he began to sink. There is a lesson for us during this time when we feel we are in the middle of the impossible, unpredictable and indefinite. It is so difficult in this country to not think of yourself. However, the miracles occur if we look to the Lord and declare from whom salvation comes.
Stay on top to the water,
Pastor Mark