Steps Of Faith — Peter (Part 1)
What made Peter get out of the boat?
Steps Of Faith — Peter (Part 1)
There are some moments in Scripture that speak louder than others. Peter walking on water is one of those. I want us to slow it down and look at it from Peter’s perspective.
Matthew 14 tells us that Jesus had sent His disciples ahead in a boat while He went to pray. By evening, the boat was a long distance from land, and the wind was causing the waves to batter it.
The disciples were tired. They were experienced fishermen, so this wasn’t their first storm. But sometime during the night, they saw something coming toward them across the water.
It was Jesus. And He wasn’t walking along the shore. He was walking on the water.
They were terrified. But Jesus immediately spoke to them:
“Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.”
And that’s when Peter’s faith began to grow.
He said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”
Peter wasn’t asking Jesus to let him try something amazing. He wasn’t saying, “I think I can do this.” He was asking Jesus for a word.
“Command me to come.”
Peter knew something we sometimes forget. Faith isn’t about taking a foolish risk and hoping God will bless it. Faith begins when God speaks and we decide to trust what He has said.
Jesus simply said: “Come.”
Now Peter had a decision to make. He could stay in the boat with the other eleven disciples, or he could put his foot over the side and discover what Jesus meant.
What made Peter get out of the boat?
It wasn’t courage. Not confidence in himself. Not certainty that he could walk on water. He had never had any confidence that he could walk on water before this moment. He had only one thing to go by.
Jesus said, “Come.”
That’s where faith brings us. We want God to show us the road before we’re willing to take the first step. We want to know where we’re going, how we’re going to get there and what will happen when we arrive.
Peter didn’t have any of that. He had a storm, a boat, a sea and a Savior who said one word:
“Come.”
Peter was about to discover that faith doesn’t begin with knowing what you can do. Faith begins with God’s Word.
He called Peter.
Tomorrow, we’ll see what happened when Peter actually put his foot over the side of the boat.
