Fear, Trust, Hope, Love, Faith...

Scripture:

Matthew 14:25-30 (ESV)

And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”

And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.”

Devotional:

Fear, trust, hope, love, faith are all things in our lives.  It seems that more times than I care to count I struggle with my faith.  You would think after all these years of seeing God’s presence in my life I would have the faith of ten mustard seeds.  Instead, I struggle from time to time.  Through difficult times my first inclination is to seek God.  As things progress and an end is not in sight struggle can sink in.

Look at Peter.  He saw Christ walking on the water.  At first they were afraid.  Then I think a bit of doubt.  Peter asks Jesus that if it is Him to tell him to walk on the water too.  So Jesus commands Peter to come to Him upon the water.  Talk about faith.  If I had half that faith I believe I could move mountains.  Look at some facts.  Peter is a man with a bit of weight.  He steps out of the boat and obviously he either starts to swim or he sinks.  What does he do?  He steps out upon the water.  What happens he is walking as if on solid ground.

I don’t know about you but that takes a tremendous amount of faith to do.  Think about different times in your life.  Where have you had to make that giant step of faith?  Did you?  Sometimes I did and in the end it was great.  Sometimes fear took over and I let it pass.  Each of us has the capacity to walk out upon the water to Jesus. 

The question I ask is where is your focus?  When Peter was focused on Jesus, he was walking just fine.  It wasn’t until he changed his focus to the events around him that he began to sink.  Here comes one of my problems.  For whatever reason I change my focus.  I then let fears set in.  Sometimes I let that fear cripple me.  To avoid this trap all I had to do is keep my focus on Jesus.  You would think it easy, but I think it is something we all struggle with at times in our lives, if you don’t please tell me your secret… 

The good news is that Jesus walked to Peter and took his hand.  Instantly Peter was back up on the water.  Even when we are too caught up in what is going on around us and we are sinking Jesus is reaching for us.  There may be times when we do not see it, or feel His hand touching ours.  Be sure to know that He is there.  Peter refocused on Christ.  We can too.  Before you know it you will be back on the water walking side by side with Jesus.  Fear is real.  It can cripple you.  But remember He who is with us is bigger than he who is in this world…

(to be continued…)