Matthew 14: 22-33 is the story of Jesus walking on the water and Peter stepping out of the boat to join Him. Peter was in a boat with the other disciples after the feeding of the five thousand with the multiplication of the bread and fish. That boat was in the midst of a terrible storm when the disciples see Jesus walking across the water toward them. Of course, they were frightened and thought that it was a ghost, but Jesus tells them to not be frightened and that it is He who is walking on the water toward them. In this passage, Peter asks Jesus to call him out into the water and allow him to walk toward Jesus but then he becomes frightened and begins to sink, Jesus holds onto him, gets in the boat and He calms the waves.
I don’t know how many times that I have heard and read that passage. I thought that I knew it pretty well but it was something that my sister, Kathy, said to me that really made me think. Kathy has a group of ladies who do a Bible study together and Kathy was talking to her friend because she was going to miss that particular meeting in person but was able to connect over the phone on that day. Later, Kathy told me that the friend that she was talking to mentioned about Peter and that particular miracle. You see, I had tended to focus on the fact that Peter ended up sinking after he walked briefly on the water, but Kathy’s friend had stated that we need to remember that Peter stepped out of the boat. Whoa!! I had never, ever thought of it quite like that before!
Now, why is that such an important point to remember? It helped me to realize that it took Peter a certain level of courage and definitely trust to do something that only Jesus could do, that is, walk on water! How many of us would have been too afraid to even step out of the boat? Here’s me, waving my hand in the air!
That’s life and our reaction to everyday things that scare us to death. We don’t often have the courage to take what God says that He will do on faith. We struggle to wait on His providence. We worry about the timing of what He’s telling us that He’s going to do for us. We often feel that we cannot rest and let God handle what is worrying us. We sink because we don’t trust that God will ALWAYS show us a better way. Our God provides our every need, but first we have to do like Peter and step out of the boat. I’m truly beginning to really know and truly understand that our God will handle it from there.
What did I learn from this? I get it. It’s hard to trust something that you cannot see. It’s hard to lay everything that you are on God’s alter and then back away. There’s that part of me that wants to snatch up that dream that I laid on that alter and yell at Him for taking too long. However, what I’m starting to see, instead, is that God is teaching me to be courageous and trust in His way of doing things. He is teaching me to have faith in the process even while I am afraid. Yeah, I get it, but what I am also finding is a strength that I never knew that I had within me and it’s all because I know that He believes in who I can become through this journey. (Related post: A Leap of Faith)
So, what can you gain from this? Take a look at your own struggles with whatever in life is weighing you down. Are you willing to give it to God and let Him show you a better way? I will say that the first step towards deciding to let go and let God is ALWAYS the hardest, then once you do it, you realize that God had a better way all along. It only gets better from that point on when you give all of those struggles to Him to carry, instead. So, go ahead and step out of the boat… be like Peter and trust that God will be there to catch you. (Related post: “Letting Go and Letting God”)
A Joyful Mission 