Scripture Reading: Matthew 14:22-33
“And Peter answered Him and said, ‘Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.’”—Matthew 14:28
After feeding the five thousand with two fish and five small loaves of bread, Jesus sent the Disciples ahead to cross the sea as He dismissed the crowds and went up into the mountains alone to pray. Before dawn the next morning, Jesus made His way to the Disciples’ boat by walking on the water. The Disciples became frightened at the scene and thought they were seeing a ghost until Jesus identified Himself.
It is here Peter asked to come meet Jesus on the water and for a moment, Peter walked on water also. At least until he became frightened by the wind, lost his faith and began to sink. From the experience, Peter has come to be known as the disciple who lost faith on the water. But, before Peter became the disciple who lost faith, he was the disciple who had enough faith to get out of the boat.
Despite the wind and rough seas, and seeing Jesus doing what defies logic and basic physics, Peter trusted Jesus enough to get out of the boat. Perhaps one of the other eleven had the faith to be unafraid of the wind or could have walked further and longer. That will never be known because no one else dared to get out of the boat.
The boat is not simply a vessel in the water. It is that place of relative safety and comfort that keeps us from truly testing our faith. It is the place where you can observe, even critique the failure of others to do the thing you are afraid to try yourself. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with being in the boat. After all, the boat gets us to our destination. But stepping out of the boat requires extraordinary faith. It is taking a risk of doing the unfathomable, even subjecting yourself to the scrutiny of others should you fail. Yet, having the faith to get out of the boat could produce results you cannot imagine.
Today, you may see an opportunity to get out of the boat, to exercise extraordinary faith, to risk doing what others say can’t be done. That decision to get out of the boat could allow you to get closer to Jesus than you could ever imagine is possible. One thing is for certain, if Peter had stayed in the boat, he would have never known he could walk on water also!
Lesson to Remember: Extraordinary faith can produce extraordinary results!
“…I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.”—Matthew 17:20
