The Necessity of Walking On Water: Faith over Fear

God has been pressing the scripture in Matthew 14 (where He and Peter walked on the water) for the last few days and actually when I consider it, the last few months. At first glance it seems like no more than a super cool story about something impossible being accomplished with little implication for the modern day believer BUT this scripture is jam packed with encouragement and implications for believers in the 21^st century!  Let’s see what we can pull out of this text!

²² Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. ²³ After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, ²⁴ and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.

²⁵ Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. ²⁶ When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.

²⁷ But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

²⁸ “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

²⁹ “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. ³⁰ But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

³¹ Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

³² And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. ³³ Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

Ok so first it’s important for us to understand that absolutely everything that is written in the bible has purpose. God is a purpose-driven God; therefore, He desires to tell us a story about Him in everything.

Can you see it? The disciples have had a hard day and an amazing day all at the same time! They are tired (You’d have to read the entire chapter to capture this part)! John the Baptist has been murder in the worst way; they had a massive crowd show up (about 5,000) to be healed by Jesus and to listen to Him, they had been out there in the heat all day and they told Jesus “Send these people home so they can eat, it’s getting late” and Jesus responded “uhhh no, they are hungry but don’t shift responsibility…YOU FEED THEM”. They look at Jesus like he is crazy, “Master, we can’t possibly feed ALL of these people, we only have 2 little sardines and 5 loaves of bread!!” Then Jesus, full of swag responded “Perfect, bring me what you have and I’ll make the increase”. The disciples witness 5,000 people fed with more than enough food remaining afterwards (and they were able to take some ownership because Jesus used their hands as vessels to give the increase).

Ok that brings us to this point à the disciples on a boat after a long, difficult but exciting day of miracles. The waves are crashing around the boat and all of a sudden they see Jesus walking on the water (for some reason, we always get nervous when we see Jesus operating outside of our realm of understanding). Jesus told them “Take Courage! It is I! Don’t be afraid!” I imagine Jesus thinking “here we go again; they are acting like they’ve never seen me do impossible things before. Just today I allowed them to see 5,000 people be fed with just a little food yet they are still amazed. Ok, I will take this opportunity to confirm who I am to them once more.”

Peter cracks me up so much!! Do ya’ll see this dude’s response? “Lord forreal forreal, if that is really you then I bet you can’t make me walk on water!!” Jesus decides to oblige him here and tells Peter to come. I see myself in Peter and I can relate to what He was feeling. He steps out of the boat by faith and he’s doing it; He’s actually walking on the water! Then Peter takes His eyes off of Jesus and focuses on his circumstances. He starts to look at the waves and forgets to focus on Christ and that is the place where he begins to sink. But the good thing is that he has enough sense to call on Jesus for help. This next part is beautiful…

The scripture says, “Immediately Jesus reached out His hand and caught him”. Wow, what a loving father! If it were me, I may have let him sink a little bit more to teach him a lesson before I saved him (horrible, I know). But Jesus, like the gracious warrior and loving father that he is, IMMEDIATELY reached out His strong hand to save Peter. He also took an opportunity to give Peter a pep talk about trusting Him. When the other disciples saw what had happened they worshiped Jesus. Funny how our trials propel us to worship God right!

Worry ends where faith begins. It is critical that we take the limits off of God. God desires for us to walk on the proverbial water (walking on water for our context is allowing Him to do the impossible through our lives). What is it that God has called you to accomplish? God gives vision to each of His children and sustains our life so that we can do THAT. Often “that” can seem like an impossible task…to start a ministry, to build churches, to heal the sick, to give justice to the disenfranchised, to start a business, to share the gospel with a co-worker, to home school your children, to be a husband or wife that loves like Christ, etc. It can all seem overwhelming…as I imagine the waves crashing around Peter appeared. But thank God that His loving hands IMMEDIATELY lift us up as He did for Peter.

God desires for you to walk on water, to TRUST Him, to TRUST His character and His love. Once we step out we have to purpose in our hearts to not be moved by the circumstances that present themselves in our lives. We can’t become anxious because that is the point where we began to spiral out of control. Philippians 4:6-8 is a good scripture to plug in here.

Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (^[b]definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God.

⁷ And God’s peace [shall be yours, that ^[c]tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace] which transcends all understanding shall ^[d]garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

⁸ For the rest, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence and is honorable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and lovable, whatever is kind and winsome and gracious, if there is any virtue and excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on and weigh and take account of these things [fix your minds on them].

Peter forgot about this scripture in the instance where he saw the waves crashing. He became worried, concerned, anxious, and nervous (typical flesh response). God calls us to respond with spirit…and what gives us added benefit is that God’s very spirit lives within us. Peter had Jesus physically there with Him which can seem most comforting, but I’d argue that we are in a better position having the Holy Spirit LIVING inside of us.  It’s critical that we walk on water and walking on water begins with FAITH in the LIVING God, Faith in Who God Is and His Character, Faith in His Love (perfect love cast out fear and Christ IS love), and Faith in His sovereignty. Be encouraged friends…Look to Christ all of the time and follow the instructions in Philippians 4:6-8. God is chiseling down the layers of our humanity and building something beautiful…Himself within us. That is complete elevation. More to come next time!

With love,

Kristin Sarai XO