“What’s God Thinking”

The mind of God is so far beyond our imagining. Just when I think I’ve got a few things down pat, I realize I’ve hardly begun. Yet, there are other times when I experience the Holy Spirit shining light on a passage and I feel like I’m getting a glimpse of some further meanings …. little tidbits and insights from God. Maybe they are just my overactive imagination, yet I think some may actually be thoughts from the mind of God. Wow.

It can be fun to allow your imagination room to think when meditating on various episodes from scripture. We just read about the familiar story  of Peter walking on the water. 

• “…. and in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea.  But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear. But immediately he spoke to them, saying, “Take heart, it is I; have no fear.” And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, bid me come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus; but when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “O man of little faith, why did you doubt?” And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.(Mt. 14:22-32)

How many times have we read this passage and how many homilies have we heard describing it. Yet this one passage deserves a multi-volume study, a cinematic trilogy…maybe “The Lord of the Sea”. There are so many insights contained in this passage. 

What about  the courage of Peter. I’ve read this so many times, that sometimes I think, “hey, I would have walked on the water toward the Lord…. really Dave ….. no not really.”  More likely I would have sat in the back of the boat with a bag over my head. And by the way, nobody else jumped up to walk toward Jesus on the water. This was a magnificent moment for Peter. And I believe the Lord knew it took real faith and hope and courage and love on Peter’s part. So when Jesus seeming chastised him for his “little faith”, I bet he had a smile on his face and I bet he was really proud of Peter. It reminds me of a football coach who yells at his promising player who just made a great play, but tripped at the 1 yard line…. he’s really happy and proud, but he still is looking for more from his star player.  Well, I may be wrong with this thought, but I think you could see the twinkle in the Lord’s eyes as he chastised Peter. Perhaps he later called him aside, gave him a hug, and whispered, “you know Peter, you keep this up and we may be able to use you in spreading the kingdom of God…we may have a place for you…. keep it up.” 

I’m pretty sure that the Lord didn’t always speak everything that was on his mind. Sometimes he spoke without any words as when he “gazed” with love on the rich young ruler”. (Mark 10:21) I wonder what the dialogue was like with his father during his nightly prayer…. things never recorded in the scripture. I imagine he would talk about the apostles and how they were doing, what needed to change, how he was proud of them even when they messed up. Did Jesus ever roll his eyes as he was listening to their conversations? Did he ever break out laughing as he pondered how all this was working out? I don’t know, but Jesus was human. He had human emotions with human excitement and human disappointments.

So there’s always more as we ponder the mind of the Lord. Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to help us understand  more and more the ways of the Lord. In the process we may learn much more about how the Lord loves us. And that would be very good news.