Walk on the Water too!

" "Come," he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!" Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?" -Matthew 14:29-31

I was reading this story the other day and God opened my eyes to so much; it was one of those lightbulb moments. I am reading this story of how here is Peter, this man after God's own heart, this man who was Jesus' right hand man here on earth, someone who stood for everything He did, and who was used in incredible ways for him. So Jesus and His disciples have just got done ministering to the people in the land and He (Jesus) goes off to pray on land and the boat begins to drift from the shore with all the disciples aboard. And in the middle of the night here comes Jesus towards the boat to the disciples and He is walking on water. I can't even imagine what was going through their heads at this moment in time. Here is Peter, being himself, and he asks the Lord to command Him to come to him. Now remember He is in the boat and Jesus is on the water, so Peter knows that at this point the only way he is going to reach Jesus is if he too walks on water. So Jesus responds with "Come", and Peter gets out of the boat and begins to walk on water! Imagine the thoughts that must have been going through his head at this point. But as he is walking on the water, with his eyes fixed on Jesus, he doubts in his heart and he begins to sink. And Jesus' response? "O you have little faith!"

How often are we like Peter? I know myself, I am going strong with my eyes fixed ever on Jesus' faith like Hebrews 12 commands and then something happens, a bad day, a terrible tragedy, a trial, something that makes my heart doubt (aka sin) and I take my eyes off of His face and I begin to sink and cry out for the Lord to save me. But why? He has been there all along, He is the one who has enabled me to walk on water in the first place, and gosh if He can do that, why would I doubt that He couldn't continue to do so? Or maybe He has called me to do something, to take a "step of faith" as we like to call it but in that moment there is doubt and fear that floods my heart and I don't want to take that first step, I have forgotten, I have taken my eyes off of Him and I have stopped trusting the perfect one. What this story has taught me, and what really the Lord I believe is teaching me this year is that He has called us to walk on water! He wants us to take the steps that He has planned for us even though we don't see the end of the path; the key to keeping us from falling? Keeping our eyes fixed on Him. He is the Lord, He is the one who is enabling us and as long as we are seeking His face first there is no fear of sinking, He has us! We must remember, remember that HE IS GOD and walk on the water too!