do we recognize Him?

The disciples had just witnessed the miracle of Jesus feeding more than 5000 people with 5 loaves of bread and 2 small fish. They didn't just hear about it. They didn't just witness it. They experienced it.

Yet, just a short time later, they fail to recognize Jesus as He walks on the water toward them. They had literally just spent many days with Him. Walking with Him. Journeying side-by-side with the Lord as He ministered to the sick and hurting. Watching Him perform miracles and wonders. They had been in close fellowship with the Lord. They had just been in His presence. But then at a time when they needed Him, they didn't see Him for who He was.

Are we like that at times? We spend time with our Lord. We commune with Him and we minister in His name. Then He does something astounding in our lives and we fail to realized, "That's Him". Jesus performs miracles in our midst and we fail to see. He is walking on the water and we can't see past our own preoccupations with ourselves to see our Savior at work.

We study His Word yet don't cling to His promises therein.

We sing about His marvelous grace and sweet mercy yet neglect to see it applied so generously to us day after day.

We seek His face but don't stay face-down long enough to find it.

We overlook His goodness. We take for granted His love. We want to know Him but aren't taking the time to make it happen. 

We forget who He is. And what He does. We seem to think that God is unaffected by our cries for mercy and deliverance. But our God is a God who feels! Praise His holy name!

He is a God who wants to know us. He craves intimacy with us. He desires for us to long for Him. But the only way that we will encounter such a rich relationship with God is to spend time with Him. We will never recognize Him in the ordinary until we have experienced Him in the extraordinary. Our lives must be based on  an intimate and personal relationship with Christ. We must stay in the Word and on our faces to keep ourselves aware of Him in all things.

Our God is greater and higher than all else. He is love. He is mercy. He is grace. He is everything.

We serve a God who hears our prayers. He sees our tears. He feels our despair. He covers. He heals. He restores. Jesus is faithful, abundant and true. When we seek Him and earnestly search for Him with all of our hearts, we will find Him. We will look up and see Him walking on the water toward us and say, "It's Jesus... I knew He would come..."