''It is I, do not be afraid!
It is I, do not be afraid!
"But when they saw Him walking on the sea, they supposed that it was a ghost, and cried out; for they all saw Him and were terrified .
But immediately He spoke with them and said to them, 'Take courage; it is I, do not be afraid! '
Then He got into the boat with them, and the wind stopped; and they were utterly astonished!" Mark 6:49-51
It seems strange to us that the disciples should ever have been afraid of their own Master.
They had been in great distress all the night because He was not with them. Yet, when He came, they were in terror at sight of Him. It was because they did not know it was Jesus, that His presence so affrighted them.
It is often just so with us. We are in some need or danger, and Jesus does not come to us.
We call upon Him, and most earnestly desire His coming. At length He comes; but it is not as we expected , in lovely visage and gentle deportment — but in form of terror. It is in some great trial that He comes.
We cry out in fear. We do not know it is the Jesus, veiled in the dark robe.
We are affrighted at the form that moves over the waters in the dark night, though it is the very Divine love and Divine help for which we have been longing and pleading!