“Peter replied to Him, “Lord, if it is [really] 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 toward Jesus. But when he saw [the effects of] the wind, he was frightened, and he began to sink, and he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus extended His hand and caught him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”
[Matthew 14:22-33… 28-31]
Are you in a storm? If not… you may be soon. That wasn’t prophecy nor was it a word of wisdom. When you look at the world, storms is the mildest word used to describe the times we live in. And we’ve all lived through storms before… have we learned from them and remembered those learnings? If I think about this a moment longer there are a number of lessons in verses 28-31. Example: When Peter heard the words ‘Come’ his eyes were on Jesus and his faith motivated him to follow what Jesus said.
2 Corinthians 5:6-7 teaches:
“So then, being always filled with good courage and confident hope, …— for we walk by faith, not by sight [living our lives in a manner consistent with our confident belief in God’s promises]”
Verse 7 is the point: “…for we walk by faith, not by sight [living our lives in a manner consistent with our confident belief in God’s promises” Peter started out confident… and then he looked around and saw the storm, saw his plight (that he could drown) and put his ‘faith’ in what he saw NOT on the Lord. Now, how does the Lord’s ‘Come’ resonate in our lives? Do we respond to His ‘Come’ with bold confidence (do remember Hebrews 4:16)? Or do we start there and then, like Peter, get our eyes off the Lord and on our circumstances?
Perhaps one area we should focus on is the length of time we have our eyes off the Lord until we finally get our eyes back onto the Lord.? Those are the times that ineffective rabbit trails, doubt, worry, stress and all the other negative feelings and thoughts emerge. Sometimes those are times of bondage or captivity or misunderstandings occur. Sometimes we stumble or fall. Why do we endure these times? Because we do. Unnecessarily. I’m not sure what can be learned during those times.
Storms, some of our own making, occur. They are a fact of life. But there is no need to compound the problem. Peter started in faith when he got out of the boat to go to the Lord. Then… he looked around and saw what was arrayed against him and fear replaced that faith. We have similar times of repeating this in our lives. We are told to build up our faith. Jude 20 says:
“But you, beloved, build yourselves up on [the foundation of] your most holy faith [continually progress, rise like an edifice higher and higher], pray in the Holy Spirit,”
Who does the building up? WE do. How? Pray in the Holy Spirit. Whenever you sense the waters rising and the waves increasing growing… whenever you feel attacked and confused – stop and look at the storm calmer. Look to Jesus and believe walking to Him confidently and watch storm be calmed.
