First of all, no, I did not forget about this for two months. School started back and there was lots of homework and a lack of sleep and two very rough good-byes, and basically my life was insane. But now it’s settling down a little, and here I am. I was originally going to do this about prayer, but for some reason Peter walking on water kept popping up. Thinking maybe God's trying to tell me something... So without further ado, here we go.
Matthew 14:22-33 is a fairly well-know story. The disciples are in a boat, Jesus appears walking on the water, Peter steps out of the boat and walks on the water before beginning to sink, at which point Jesus reaches out and pulls him up out of the water. Most of us know that story. In fact, we know it so well that the magic of the story is lost on us. Peter walked on water! But somehow that doesn’t impress us anymore. In fact, we’ve been desensitized to most of Christ’s miracles. He fed five thousand men (the actually crowd was probably around twenty thousand people) with five loaves of bread and two fish (John 6:1-15). He calmed a storm (Matthew 8:23-27). He raised a man from the dead (John 11:38-44). In fact, he raised himself from the dead (Matthew 28:1-10)! But, just like the story of Jesus’ birth, we’ve heard these stories so many times that they no longer amaze us. It’s pretty sad.
But anyways. Back to Peter and the boat. In verse 22, Jesus sends the disciples on ahead of Him in a boat. I’m just guessing, but that probably didn’t make a lot of sense to them. Why would Jesus send them ahead with the boat? How was He going to get across? By walking around? But Jesus had a plan. In order for Him to walk on water, He needed them to have a head start. Similarly, God sometimes asks us to do things that don’t necessarily make a lot of sense. But He always has a reason. Sometimes He needs us to do something that may seem strange so that He has the opportunity to do something incredible. If the disciples hadn’t gone on ahead, there would have been no story about Jesus walking on water. They had to trust that He had a plan and comply with His seemingly odd request. And in exchange they got to witness one of the most famous miracles in Jesus’ career.
Eventually Jesus starts walking across the lake and catches up with His disciples, who, being human, sort of freak out. There’s a dude walking on the freakin’ lake! I must be losing my mind! Jesus calls to them not to be afraid. And then Peter opens his mouth. Somewhere along the line, Peter became the unofficial spokesperson for the twelve disciples. When Jesus asked a question, they usually closed their mouths and looked at Peter. And when Peter opened his mouth, what came out was usually either very insightful (Matthew 16:15-16), or very stupid (Matthew 16:22-23). In this case it was more or less the former. In verse 28, Peter calls out to Jesus and says, “Lord, if it’s you, tell me to come to you on the water.” Most people tend to skip over this part, but I think there’s something here worth noticing. First of all, Peter gives Jesus a test, much like Gideon in Judges 6 (verse 17-22 and 36-40). Before he acts, he wants to be absolutely certain that the voice he hears is really coming from the Son of God. This is a good example for us to follow. Before you act, get in the Bible and spend some time with God making sure it’s really Him speaking to you.
The second thing Peter is doing here is asking Jesus to let him join in. Once he’s established that it really is Jesus talking, he’s eager to get involved in whatever his teacher is doing. This shows Jesus that Peter’s heart is in the right place. He has absolutely no idea what Jesus is up to, but he knows that he wants in. And when he asks, what does Jesus say? He says, “Come.” If we want in, Jesus is more than happy to let us be a part. Sometimes He will call us, but sometimes He’s waiting for us first to ask Him to let us be involved. Sometimes He wants to know that we really want to be involved.
As soon as Jesus speaks, Peter is out of the boat (verse 29). He knows he can’t walk on water (any fisherman would know that much), but he trusts that if Jesus has called him, then something will work out. And sure enough, the water holds him up. This is where one of the three biggest misconceptions of the story comes in. Most people read that verse and say, “Wow! Peter’s faith was so strong that he could walk on water!” But that’s not what is happening here. Peter does not have so much faith that he can will the water to hold him up. Peter is completely human. Yes, getting out of the boat and stepping onto the water does show a great deal of faith in Jesus, but his faith is not what holds him up. What holds him up is Jesus. Peter doesn’t walk on water because he just has so much faith. He can walk on water because Jesus first called him out of the boat and then gave him the ability to fulfill that calling. I once heard someone say that “Where God guides, He provides.” That’s exactly what is happening here. Peter couldn’t walk on water until Jesus told him to. But once He called, Jesus was faithful to provide Peter with a way to fulfill that calling. The same is true of us. If God calls us to do something, He will also give us the tools and abilities we need to fulfill that calling. All we have to do is believe Him enough to get out of the boat. Sometimes that’s the hardest part. There were twelve guys in that boat, twelve guys who had walked and talked and lived with Jesus for at least a year now, maybe even two. And how many of them actually got out of the boat? One. The other eleven were too scared. Where Peter saw Jesus, they saw the crashing waves. They simply didn’t trust Jesus enough to step out of the boat. Maybe that was why He called to Peter, because He knew Peter was the one who would come. The other eleven preferred the safety of the boat, and because of that they missed out on the chance to experience Jesus’ power. God promises to give us what we need to accomplish His plan for us (Jeremiah 29:11), but the choice to get out of the boat is ours and ours alone. It doesn’t matter how many people are in the boat or how many of them are staying put. What matters is you can God. Do you trust Him enough to get out of the boat, even if no one else does?
In verse 30, Peter’s moment of glory begins to go downhill. Suddenly he realizes what he’s doing. Dude! I’m walking on water! On a stormy sea. With a crazy strong wind. And really big crashing waves. And… And then he freaks out. And what happens? He starts to sink. This is the part where people tend to make their second misconception. Many people read this and say that Peter sank because he lost faith. But if losing faith caused him to sink, then his faith would have had to have been the thing holding him up. And we already stated that wasn’t the case. So what caused him to sink? The verse says it pretty clearly. Peter began to sink “…when he saw the wind…” He lost his focus. The minute his eyes left his target, Jesus Christ, he began to realize just how impossible what he was doing really was. The minute he lost track of what was really holding him up, Jesus Christ, he got scared and began to sink. He second-guessed himself. He began to worry that maybe Jesus would let him slip. When we stop focusing on Jesus Christ, we begin to sink. We can’t afford to forget where our strength comes from (Psalm 28:7).
The minute Peter begins to sink, however, he immediately cried out to Jesus. He realigned his focus, and asked for help. And he got it. Verse 31 says that Jesus reached out immediately and caught his hand. When Peter called, Jesus answered. He had him covered. And then He looks at Peter and he says, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” This is where misconception number three comes in. Most people read this verse and assume that Jesus is telling Peter that he should have had move faith. “Well if you’d just had some more faith, Peter, everything would’ve been fine. But nooo. You had to doubt. And look what happened, you moron.” That’s not at all what Jesus is saying here. In fact, I can almost hear the kind smile in His voice as He looks down at Peter and says, “Did you honestly think I was going to let you drown?” I’ve got your back, He’s saying. I’ve got you covered. Trust me. The faith thing was good, Peter. You trusted that I had you covered. Where did that trust go, buddy? When we begin to sink, Jesus catches our hand and tells us the same thing. “I’ve got you covered. I won’t let you drown. I promise. Trust me.” It’s like a father teaching his son to ride a bike. The dad runs alongside the bike, helping to keep it up. The minute the child forgets his father is there, he begins to wobble and fall. And then his father catches the bike, and says, “Don’t worry, I’ve got you.” When we step out, God promises to keep us from sinking. As long as we keep our focus on Him, we can do anything. And when we begin to sink, He reaches down and grabs our hand and says, “Did you really think I would let you drown?”
One thing I’ve noticed recently about life, is that there are two ways of getting out of the boat. One is step out onto the waves of your own free will. The other is to have the boat forcibly removed from under you. This is more of the trial by fire, when it comes down to sink or swim. Or, I guess I should say, sink or walk on water. (Sorry, lame joke. Couldn’t resist.) My life at this point has become more or less the latter. Life is pretty interesting right now, and some days are pretty rough. I have a really good friend who is more or less my lifeline. She was the one who I told pretty much everything, the only person I would really let myself break down around. Oh, and she gives really good hugs. :) And three weeks ago she moved back to the States. Which means no more random hugs, no more “good morning” texts, no more leaning on somebody’s shoulder when my day sucks. Skype works wonder, but we have to work around time change, which can make it hard. It’s been a rough couple weeks. And then I was talking with God the other night, and He basically said, “I’m here, and I always will be. People will come and go, but I’ll always be here. You have to learn how to lean on me, because sometimes I’ll be all you have.” So basically right now I’m at the point where I either learn to hold to God and really truly make Him my everything, or I sink. Pretty much a trial by fire.
And yes, I found songs to go with this. :) One of my favorite worship songs is called “If You Say Go” by the Jeff Berry Band. “If You say go, we will go. If You say wait, we will wait. If You say step out on the water and they say it can’t be done, we’ll fix our eyes on You and we will come.” Another favorite song of mine is “Walk on the Water” by Britt Nicole. Pretty cool stuff. Check ‘em out.
I hope some of that was helpful to some of you, or at least gave you something to think about. If I said something wrong, or that you just don’t agree with, please let me know. I would also love to know if any of you have any prayer requests so I can be praying for you. Feedback is also much appreciated. I love you guys, and so does God. Catch you later!
