Friday, June 12, 2009
Context ( Matt 14:25-31)
25 Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. 26 And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear.
27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.”
28 And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”
29 So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw that the wind was boisterous,[b] he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!”
31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.
I was reminded of this familar passage few days ago. Wehn Jesus asked Peter to walk on the water with Him, initially Peter was not afraid to step out and start walking on water.
In many of our life circumstances, we are often like Peter. When we first hear the voice of God, we take steps of faith and begin stepping out with our heart full of faith, ready to do amazing things for God. We confess the word of God promises and begin visualizing and incubating our dreams.
But often God will take us through a second stage. Its when the wind was boisterous (verse 30) and the storm starts to grow bigger and bigger. And like Peter, many of us begin to SEE the wind, it wasnt that he didnt believe in the promises but he has began to focus on the wind and the storm, his eyes were no longer focused on Jesus, thats when he begins to sink. And like Peter, many of us tend to "sink" when circumstances no longer favor us, thats when our faith is tested.
Interestingly God gave us the solution here when we are faced with such circumstances. Just like how Peter cried out to the Lord, we must cry out once again to the Lord. And just like Jesus stretched out and caught Peter hand (verse 31), Jesus will stretched out His hand and help us through. Many a times, when we read this story, we stopped here.
However there is a final stage. Jesus and Peter walked back into the boat. So through this verses, God revealed the final stage of our dream fufillment. When we work together in partnership together with Him, we see our dreams and visions come to pass, we no longer see ourselves struggling through life.
