What does it mean to walk on water, figuratively? I wrote this lesson a while back and as I scrolled through all of my past lessons, this one recaptured my eye. The past four months has really brought me trust God more and more, and when I came across this lesson, it brought to light what it means to trust God. Our passage is not only about trusting God, but Keeping our lives on track with what God has laid out for us.
"And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away. And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone. But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased." (Matthew 14:22-32)
There are so many messages that we could extract from this one brief passage, but I want to focus on one area. The highlight of this story is the miracle of Peter walking on water. This is something I grew up hearing and learning in Sunday school, but what it really meant never really got through to me until this last year. My questions is, "Why was Peter able to walk on water?" It is an interesting question and the answer can be found within the passage.
In this passage, we see different sides of Peter, just as we oftentimes have different sides: faith followed by doubt. We first see Peter acting on getting out of the boat. Yes, he saw Jesus walking on water, but for him to walk on water must have seemed impossible. Have you ever tried walking on water? Imagine trying to walk on water for the first time, not to mention in a storm. For Peter to have stepped out of the boat, he would have had a tremendous faith in Christ. Verse 29 of the passage says, "And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus." This was Peter's act of faith, trusting that God would allow him to walk on the water.
Peter had faith, but the reason he was able to walk on water, I believe, was two-fold. He had faith, but he also kept his eyes on Jesus. In verse 30, we see that he, for a moment, took his eyes off Jesus. That would immediately imply that to walk on water, he would have had to keep his eyes on Jesus. That ties very closely to faith. When we keep our eyes on Jesus, we have faith that He will do amazing things, even though they may seem impossible to us.
As we look at Peter in this situation, we see that he had faith. But he also went the other direction. As I mentioned, in verse 30, Peter took his eyes off of Jesus. Doesn't that happen to all of us from time to time? Peter took his eyes off Jesus which implies Peter lost his faith. In fact, we see this in verse 31 when Jesus says, "O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?" Somewhere in this circumstance, Peter began to have doubt and lose faith in Jesus, causing him to sink. Is this not a parallel to our lives?
You see, your life is the sea. My life is the sea. And as we sail our seas, we will run into storms. The questions is ,what we will do when we run into those storms? Just as Peter did, we have two options. We can trust God, keep the faith, and not doubt that God will carry us through. Through our storms, we must keep our eyes on Jesus. Or just like Peter, if we take our eyes off Jesus, we will sink into the problems of our sea. It really is that simple! It's not easy, but simple. When we face our storms, our trials, our problems, our adversity, we have the choice to trust that Jesus will see us through it.
I can't always say I chose to trust God in my storms. When I was young, my parents were divorced which set up many problems for me and my siblings. We had many issues to face and the divorce, I believe, affected us more than we realized. From there, as problems arose, I chose to trust myself, just like Peter, but I continued to sink. I took my eyes off of Jesus and as a result, I sank. I tried my best by any means I knew how to try to swim, but under my own power, I was unable to stay afloat. Turning to drinking, smoking, and an array of other addictions to "fix" my problems. But all those addictions just added weight and caused me to sink faster.
The good news is shown in verse 31: "And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him..." Jesus won't let His children drown. He is loving and wants to help us. He wants us to keep our eyes on Him and trust him. But as natural sinners, we are bound to take our eyes off Jesus from time to time. However, Jesus is right there to take our hands and pull us back up. As Peter was sinking in his own attempts to walk on water, he realized he needed Christ and in verse 30, cried "save me!" When we realize that we have tried to face the storm on our own, under our own power, and begin to sink, Christ will raise us up if we call on him and trust Him. That is what Jesus wants from us: our complete trust. He will forgive us and help us if we simply ask. Verse 31 says that Jesus IMMEDIATELY reached down to catch Peter and raise him back up. What love is that? Jesus has the same love for us, to pull us back up when we start sinking. All we have to do is trust Him, turn our eyes upon Him, and ask for His help.
The awesome thing in all of this is that we don't have to sink! Peter sank because he lost faith, he doubted, and he took his eyes off Jesus. But when we face problems and storms, or even in good times, we can continue to keep our eyes on Jesus. We are told that God will direct our paths if we look to him and trust him. When we continue to follow God and trust in him, the storms will come, but we will be able to hold fast because we have a solid rock to stand on: Jesus Christ.
2 Timothy 4:7 "I have a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith."
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