“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
“Come,” he said.
Then Peter got out of the boat, walked on the water and came towards Jesus. But 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: 28-31 [NIV]
Nobody else in the boat was impetuous enough to step out onto the water to see if he could walk on it towards Jesus. Peter wanted to try it, and he made a good start, it would appear, until the distractions of the wind and the waves made him lose confidence and start to sink. All my past attempts at walking on water have failed dismally (I sink like a stone), so I have to say that I am impressed by how well he did. Had he a little more faith, he could have walked all the way.
Sometimes our faith is also limited. We set out on a path in a certain direction and when we run into some difficulties it is easy to doubt and start sinking. If you want to walk over a metre (3 feet!) wide plank, with a drop of hundreds of metres either side, it helps not to look down and think about how windy it is. If the plank were on the ground we could do it easily – doubt and lack of faith can make you struggle to do the things you know you should be able to do.
Lord, help us to put our trust in you and increase our faith, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Dave MacLellan (first published in 2003)
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