O ~ As Peter was walking on the water, Matthew tells us that he began to sink. The steps were as follows: 1 - confirm it is Jesus. 2 - ask and receive an invitation. 3 - hop over the side and walk on water. 4 - notice the strong wind and waves. 5 - be terrified. 6 - sink. 7 - cry out.
A ~ So where was the problem? The problem was not that this was an apparition - clearly it was Jesus, and clearly He invited Peter to join Him. There was no instruction given about focus (keep your eyes on me) or regarding faith (just don't doubt). Was the problem not keeping his physical eyes on Jesus? That sounds dumb. Surely this miracle was not like an infrared remote where you need 'line of sight' or the signal is broken. Was it the terror produced by his circumstances? "He was terrified and began to sink". Jesus neither rebukes Him for glancing elsewhere, or for being afraid. Jesus corrects him with the statement "Why did you doubt Me?". He does not say "Why did you doubt?", he says "Why did you doubt Me?" (NLT). Ah - there in lies the rub. It's not a matter of eye contact, or fearlessness, or even faith in the ability to waltz on waves - but the issue is doubting Jesus. It's not doubting what He can do, it's doubting who He is. When I doubt Who He is - his very nature and character - I'm sunk.
P ~ Lord, I do pray You would invite me to come to You, and I do pray You would give me the courage to get out of the boat, and I do pray that You would help me keep my eyes on You, and I do pray that I would not be afraid.
But most of all, I pray You would help me to never doubt You.
No comments:
Post a Comment