“He [Jesus] said, ‘Come.’ So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, ‘Lord, save me.’ 31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, ‘O you of little faith, why did you doubt?’ (ESV)
I loved this picture because I think so often when Jesus calls us to Himself or to something He has for us, we can be like Peter and jump out of the boat enthusiastically to follow Jesus. But when adversity comes (like the storm and waves), if we don’t keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and believe what we know to be true about Him, we will fall.
We see this all throughout the Bible. John the Baptist, born to make the way for Jesus, baptized Him and was obediently and joyfully fulfilling the call on his life, but when he was arrested (adversity came), he asks of Jesus, “Are you the One?” (Matthew 11:3) Suddenly, things don’t seem as clear.
We saw it in the movie. People would follow Jesus, but when other people would question whether He was really the Messiah, it was easy to doubt and wonder: “Wait, is he really the Messiah?” We saw Thomas doubt and Peter deny Jesus.
Perhaps the same people who said on Palm Sunday, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord,” would later cry out, “Crucify Him!”
We are human, and we can be fickle and easily swayed by the difficult circumstances or opinions around us.
In our own day, I see people (or sometimes myself) who enthusiastically follow a call Jesus gives them, and then when that call turns out to be really hard and costly (which we should expect), they (or I) wonder, “Wait, were we really supposed to do that?”
But let’s fix our eyes on Jesus and ask Him to increase our faith. Then when the waves come and we feel tossed about, we actually will stand firm in Christ who will steady and uphold us and prove Himself faithful, that He is indeed the One!
PRAYER: Dear Lord, please increase our faith. Make us ones who believe You and who don’t doubt, even when life’s storms come and our circumstances are hard. Help us to fix our eyes on You and not the things around us. And may we find You faithful, as you fully are. We love You, Lord Jesus, and thank and praise You that you would die a cruel death so that we might live. Let us then live for You, in full faith, believing You are the One and looking to you each day. In Jesus Name, Amen.
Praise Proclaimer 