Matthew 14:22-33 NIV
Jesus Walks on the Water
22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd.
23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone,
24 and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.
25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake.
26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.
27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
29 “Come,”he said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.
30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,”he said, “why did you doubt?”
32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down.
33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
Lack of faith in Jesus
Have you ever read this verse before? I know I have and each time I get something a little different from it. Today I focused on Peter’s lack of faith. Well, he had faith when he first called out to Jesus and asked for Jesus to tell him to come.
But then what happened? Peter looked away, he took his eyes off of Jesus and focused on the wind. He focused on the things happening around him. He focused on the chaos. Peter let his faith slip, just for a second and he had nothing to hold onto anymore.
How many times do we do that in our lives? We pray, read our Bibles and get set in our faith. We praise Him and nothing seems to stand in our way.
But when, the wind comes.
But when, our child gets sick.
But when, that bill we weren’t expecting arrived.
But when, our car breaks down.
But when….
There is always going to be that “but when” in our life. We need to know it is coming and instead of worrying, instead of taking our eyes off of Jesus, we need to put more INTO Him. We need MORE prayer time, we need MORE worship, we need MORE Bible reading. We need more of Him and less of “but when” worrying.
And even when you do take your eyes off of him, as soon as you call out, like Peter did, Jesus will always reach out and grab your hand. Even in your doubt, even in your “but when” moments; Jesus reaches out for you and will quiet the storm around you.
Jesus loves you my friend. Never doubt that.
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