The disciples were in their boat and Jesus had told them to head to the other side because He planned to meet up with them later. Jesus was spending time in prayer as He desired to be alone with his Heavenly Father. Matthew’s account of the story is as follows:
Matthew 14:25-31 (Easy to Read Version)
“Between three and six o’clock in the morning, Jesus’ followers were still in
the boat. Jesus came to them. He was walking on the water. When they saw
him walking on the water, it scared them. “It’s a ghost!” they said,
screaming in fear. But Jesus quickly spoke to them. He said, “Don’t worry!
It’s me! Don’t be afraid.” Peter said, “Lord, if that is really you, tell me to
come to you on the water.” Jesus said, “Come, Peter.” Then Peter left the
boat and walked on the water to Jesus. But while Peter was walking on the
water, he saw the wind and the waves. He was afraid and began sinking into
the water. He shouted, “Lord, save me!” Then Jesus caught Peter with his
hand. He said, “Your faith is small. Why did you doubt?”
I think there are so many lessons to learn from this portion of scripture. Peter always seems to be remembered for being the dear old soul that was always sticking his foot in his mouth. Isn’t it interest that it was the disciples that were frightened as they saw someone on the water walking towards them, but it was Peter that stepped out in his heart first to find out what was going on. When he asked, “Lord, IF that’s you…tell me to come.” Peter was at least willing to get out of the boat. I made emphasize on the words “But while Peter was walking on the water…” Let us be reminded here that Peter was doing the exact same miracle that Jesus was.
So many read this and place emphasis that Peter was moved by the wind and the waves and he sunk. Let us focus on the fact that Peter WAS walking on the water. Even if it was only a few steps, I always think about the faith that was in his heart that caused him to try and reach the Lord by way of the impossible in the natural. I find it interesting as well that he was that close to Jesus when he began to sink, and all Jesus had to do was reach out and grab his hand. Really, Peter was almost there.
Peter was walking in the miracle yet his reasoning made him begin to sink. Think about it…Peter was on top of the water bypassing all laws of nature. I can only imagine how wonderful and awesome those few seconds of his faith were. Peter just simply permitted his reasoning to challenge and pull down his faith. There may be times that we are only an arm’s reach away from victory and circumstances seem to weaken us. Many times it is when we are closest to victory that the devil will try to distract us with anything that will tempt us to reason away the Word of God on which we are standing. Think about it…simple reasoning of what Peter’s eye’s saw and what his ear’s heard caused him to begin to go down. I will leave you with this scripture:
Proverbs 3:5 (NASB)
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding.”
I want to challenge your heart with this story. Many times Jesus is calling us out of our “boats” and these “boats” are actually our comfort zones. He is calling us to cry out for courage to get out of our comfort zone, and walk in a whole different realm. This realm or new task He may be calling us to walk in may challenge our faith like never before.
