And Peter answered him, “Lord if it is you, command me to 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 took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. Matthew 14:28-32
I love this passage of Scripture. Peter’s clumsy humanness is something we can all relate to I am sure! His child-like request of Jesus is beautiful in its sincerity and reckless in its boldness all at the same time. ‘Command me to come to you on the water’ who in their right mind asks the Saviour of the world to command them to do the impossible?!
But, as we know, Peter’s reckless abandon quickly disappeared when he started to realise the predicament he was in. He took his eyes off Jesus and looked at the ridiculousness of his situation instead… and he started to sink. He forgot whose strength he should have been relying on and he was afraid. I wonder what was going through his mind at that moment. Oh dear, what have I done? Keeping it real, that is probably not the first thought that would have come to my mind!
But what did Jesus do? He rescued him yes, but He also rebuked him for his lack of faith. He “immediately” took Peter’s hand to steady him but then He said, “why did you doubt?” I like to imagine this question as a gentle concern rather than an accusatory statement. I like to imagine seeing Jesus with His arms around Peter and saying it’s ok, we’ve got this, trust me.
The other thing to note in this passage is that the wind did not stop until AFTER they were back in the boat (vs 32). Jesus did not save Peter from walking through the storm, He simply walked through the storm beside him. Peter still had to face his fears, take his eyes off his situation and put his trust completely in Jesus before he could return to the safety of the boat.
What is the lens you most often use to look at your circumstances? Fear or faith? Do you boldly step into something God has asked you to do only to splutter and sink when it becomes too hard? Jesus never said life would be easy, in fact in John 16:33 He warns us of the exact opposite. But in that verse, He also tells us to take heart because He has already overcome. And we can overcome too.
You are already an overcomer… you just need to believe it. I have faced many trials and tribulations in my life, some of my own making and others I had absolutely no choice in. Yet I am still constantly amazed at the goodness of God in every single situation. He has written the story of my life with so many twists and turns it makes my head spin sometimes!
Sometimes we must take a risk like Peter did. And in taking these risks I believe there are three things we need to do to step into the plan and purpose God has for us. We need to forgive, ourselves as well as those who have hurt us; we need to submit to the work of the Holy Spirit in us to make us healed and whole and we need to believe we are who God says we are. We are fearfully and wonderfully made in His image to do the things He planned and prepared for us to do…. and sometimes that means we have to walk through a few storms!
