Take Courage, It Is I

“Have courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” (Matthew 14:27)

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On an October morning in 1555, two preachers were led to a ditch outside Balliol College in Oxford to be burned for teaching the gospel of justification by faith. As the fire was laid at their feet, Hugh Latimer turned to Nicholas Ridley and spoke words that England has long remembered: “Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man. We shall this day light such a candle, by God’s grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out.” Be of good comfort. Take courage. Latimer reached for the courage of Jesus, who had spoken that same steadying word to His disciples in a storm on the sea.

Most of us will face our own dark waters. A phone call, a diagnosis, a marriage under strain, a night when faith is thinly veiled. Fear rises like wind on a lake. The readings this week gather people in that kind of fear, and they show us God who draws near and speaks. He whispers to a worn-out prophet, sends a young man into Egypt to save many, and walks across the waves saying, “It is I. Don’t be afraid.” Courage comes in His voice.

Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28

Joseph is seventeen, loved by his father and resented by his brothers. They strip off his robe, throw him into a pit, and sell him to traders headed for Egypt for twenty pieces of silver. Heaven is quiet over the pit that day. Still, the Word of God sets a question before us that the rest of Scripture will answer: where is God when a young believer is dragged into the abyss? Joseph will learn that God had already gone ahead of him into Egypt, and his experience sets in motion the pattern this week traces: God present in the pits long before His people are thrown in.

1 Kings 19:9-18

Elijah has just seen fire fall on Mount Carmel, and now he runs for his life from Jezebel and collapses under a broom tree, ready to die. God feeds him, walks him to Horeb, and asks, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” The prophet pours out his fear: “I alone am left.” The wind tears at the mountain, an earthquake shakes it, and fire passes by. Then a soft whisper comes, and Elijah covers his face and steps out to meet God. The word he receives from the Lord sends him back to work with a promise: seven thousand in Israel are still alive and faithful to God. File this away; soon the One who spoke courage in a whisper will speak it again in the middle of a violent storm.

Psalm 85:8-13

The psalmist stands among a people who need restoring, and he sets his heart to listen: “I will listen to what God will say.” What he hears is peace. He watches faithful love and truth meet together, and righteousness and peace embrace, and he sees truth spring up from the ground like a green shoot. The courage of this psalm grows from a settled confidence that God speaks peace to His people. Elijah heard the whisper of peace on the mountain, and here the whole congregation leans in to hear that same voice.

Psalm 105:1-6, 16-22, 45b

Remember Joseph in the pit? This psalm looks back at Joseph and tells us what was happening while he lay there. God called down a famine on the land, and He sent a man ahead of the family to keep them alive: Joseph, sold as a slave, his feet put in irons. The psalmist identifies where to take courage: until the time his word came true, the word of the LORD tested him. Joseph was held by the Lord’s promise while the promise was working in him. The pit and the prison were the road God used to set a savior in Egypt, and the psalm ends with a shout, “Hallelujah!” The dark providence of Genesis 37 becomes praise once its ultimate purpose comes into view.

Matthew 14:22-33

And so we come to the zenith of Biblical courage. The disciples are alone in the boat, battered by waves, straining against the wind in the darkest watch of the night. Jesus comes to them walking on the water, and their fear turns to terror, for they think He is a ghost. He speaks at once: “Have courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” The words “It is I” carry the name God gave at the burning bush, I AM, so the voice over the water is the voice Moses heard in Exodus. Peter steps out, walks toward Jesus, sees the wind, and begins to sink, and his prayer is three words many of us have prayed, “Lord, save me.” Jesus reaches out His hand at once and catches him. They climb into the boat, the wind drops, and the disciples worship: “Truly You are the Son of God.” Courage came to them in a Person who spoke His own name into their storm.

Romans 10:5-15

Paul takes the courage in that little boat and scatters it into the whole world. The word is near you, he says, in your mouth and in your heart. Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, and you will be saved. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, the same name Peter called on when he was going under the crashing waves. Then Paul asks how people can call on a Lord they have yet to hear of, and how they can hear unless someone carries the news to them, and he answers with a blessing on the messengers: how beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news. The courage Jesus declared in the storm now travels on the gospel feet of those He sends.

Conclusion

Through this journey, Jesus shows Himself as the God who comes near and speaks courage into fearful circumstances. He whispered to Elijah, held Joseph in the pit and the prison, walked to His disciples across the waves, and sends His people out with the word that saves. We follow Him in three ways. First, we listen for His voice in our own storms and let “It is I” steady us; when the water rises, we pray Peter’s prayer, “Lord, save me,” and trust the hand that stretches forth to bring us to safety. Second, we speak His courage to others, standing beside the frightened the way Latimer stood beside Ridley, so that a friend in the fire hears a steadying word. Third, we carry the news on gospel feet, telling people that Jesus is Lord and that all who call on Him will be saved. Worship that hears “take courage” in the storm walks back out to declare it to another sinking soul.

Points to Ponder

• Name the storm you are in right now. Where do you most need to hear Jesus say, “It is I. Don’t be afraid”?
• Joseph sat in a pit before he saw the purpose of it. Where are you being asked to trust a promise while it does its slow work in you?
• Latimer spoke courage to Ridley in the fire. Who in your life is frightened today and waiting for you to stand beside them with a steadying word?

Prayer

Lord Jesus, You came to Your disciples across the water and spoke Your name over the storm. Speak it over mine. When the wind is high and my faith is a veneer, help me hear You say, “Have courage. It is I.” Catch me when I start to sink, as You caught Peter, and set my feet back in the boat. Then send me out to carry Your courage to the frightened and Your gospel to those who have yet to hear, that they may call on Your name and be saved. Amen.

“For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:13)