Walking on Water

Recently, I got myself in a situation where I was put in the middle of some serious drama.  This drama festered and the people involved in it started making everything such a big deal.  It was disheartening and I really found myself being drawn away from God.  I love the people that I was hanging out with, but I didn’t feel that I needed to be involved in that drama.  I really felt that I needed to take a step back and get out of it.  So, after much prayer, and consideration, I made the decision that had been coming for a year.  I left that group of friends and removed myself from that situation. 

Yesterday, I was reading the story from the Bible where the disciples went fishing and a storm came up.  Jesus walked on the water to their boat.  (Matthew 14: 23-34) Jesus was off praying and the disciples were out on the boat and the wind and the waves were “buffeting” the boat.  Buffeting is defined as: pounded or hit repeatedly by storm or by adversaries.  So the disciples were out being buffeted by this storm.  Hit on all sides, and then they see this figure start walking towards them.  Most likely they were seeing Jesus in waves, and it wasn’t a very easy walk for Jesus since the waves were most likely large and going up and down.  Imagine being one of the disciples and seeing Jesus bobbing up and down on the water.  Then Peter yells out- can I come to you?  Jesus says of course and so Peter timidly gets out of the boat and starts walking to Jesus.  Then he remembers that, hey this is WATER, this is impossible, this is not supposed to be happening, he looks around and sees the waves, feels the water start to get soft under his feet and starts sinking into the water.  “Jesus, help me!” Jesus didn’t want to see those that he loved drown, and he helped Peter out of the water. 

First thing that came to my mind was that it was insane for him to step out of that boat.  Why would anyone ever want to step out onto water when the boat is perfectly good and perfectly stable?  What was that man thinking?  He got out of a boat in the storm.  Jesus didn’t ask him to come to him, but he just decided that, “hey, I am going to go walk on water and go to Jesus” I wonder if he even though it through very well.  Jesus said, “sure, come on out”.  So out he went, he went over the side and started walking on the water to Jesus.  AND HE COULD!  Jesus enabled him to walk on the water.  He stepped out in faith and Jesus made it so that he could put one foot in front of another and come out and physically walk on water.  But then, Peter looked around him and saw all the things surrounding him, he got scared, his eyes were off of Jesus.  He started sinking, he called to Jesus, “PLEASE LORD, HELP ME!!!” 

I wonder what Jesus was thinking during that time, was he walking out thinking, I am so proud of Peter, having the faith that he knows that he can come out to me and walk with me on water.  He agreed to what Peter felt that he needed to do.  He said, yes, I want you to come out.  But it didn’t work so well for Peter.  Peter let the surrounding circumstances influence him and gave up.  Jesus was thinking that he had to try to do it on his own.  Go fill up your bathtub and try it, it doesn’t work so well!  Jesus, of course, saved him from drowning.

Have you ever taken a step out in faith?  You really feel like you need to do something or be doing something.  Maybe it is taking a new job or starting your own ministry.  You feel that God has confirmed this and so you start out.  You are amazed that God said, “come”, or “yes”.  You are so excited about it you are walking on water.  But then, you look around at your circumstances and your situations.  You see Jesus WAY off in the distance, you feel the waves and the spray from the water hitting you in the face and you say, “what am I doing, this is impossible”.  I have to do this all on my own.  What is impossible in our eyes is always possible in God’s eyes.  If you have felt called to do something and then failed, don’t be discouraged, you are not alone.  Peter, someone that made a huge difference in the WORLD for the Christian faith, didn’t succeed in everything that he felt called to do either.  Sometimes, we need to step out in faith.  We might make it all the way to our goal, or we might need Jesus to save us.  The point is that Jesus saved Peter. 

Peter wasn’t afraid to step out in faith because he knew that Jesus was going to save him.  Sometimes, we need to take that step.  We need to just say, yes Lord, I feel called, is this what you want?  If we hear “yes” or “come” then we do it.  We need to keep our eyes on Jesus and maybe we will succeed.  But even if we don’t succeed, then Jesus will be there to save us.  Today’s decisions lead to tomorrow’s testimonies.  So do we want to be someone that always played it safe, not having the faith to step out of the boat or do we want to be someone that can say, I have stepped out of the boat, I might fail, but I am walking towards Jesus.