Scripture- “Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”- Matthew 14:25-31
Insight: The story above in Matthew 14:25-31 of Peter getting out of the boat to walk on the water is full of so many lessons for us to learn from. They are timely lessons for today’s world because to be effective for Christ, we need to be laser focused. We cannot allow distractions to overwhelm us, or we will begin to doubt Jesus’s promises to us much like Peter did above. When Peter was focused on Jesus, he didn’t consider his limitations at all, but rather he was just relying on the supernatural presence of Jesus to achieve something that was miraculous. Peter took a courageous first step of obedience and got out of the boat. This will be true of us at some point in our faith walk; we will need to get “out of the boat” and trust Jesus even when the circumstances make no sense, or we can see no path forward. We will be forced to choose whether we truly believe Jesus is the best possible steward of our life, and that if He leads us into something, then He has already prepared us to be equipped to handle the assignment.
What a great lesson this is, and so important for us to remember. Jesus is the “Good Shepherd.”- John 10:11 But another powerful lesson we can learn from Peter’s story above is when we get distracted, we lose sight of Jesus and we begin to sink! Our distractions lead us to doubt, and when we doubt we are back to living a life based on our understanding instead of relying on his. Peter was doing fine when he was focused solely on Jesus, but then he let his attention drift to the circumstances around him, and the wind caused him to be afraid. How many times do we do this same thing? It can be any distraction imaginable that the enemy will use to try to get us distracted or to turn our attention away from Jesus. Just try to do a Bible Study or spend some quiet time reading the Bible and see how many distractions pop up out of nowhere. This is the epitome of spiritual warfare!
I just encountered this today in my own circumstances. I have been trying to do a social media fast for Lent, especially around any news to do with the financial markets. I was feeling calmer and more peaceful, and I was spending quality time every day in the presence of the Lord. Then, out of nowhere I heard about the story of Silicon Valley Bank failing, and one of my top investments uses that bank for their financial needs. Instead of believing that Jesus had the situation under control, that He is aware of everything that could happen and will always work everything out for our ultimate good, I instead went to my investment to see how it was being effected. The answer was not good, and all the peace and serenity I had felt recently, was instantly replaced with anxiety and fear. Then I realized I had no control over any of it, and I felt so defeated by letting myself become so distracted by something I had no control over. I felt so weak. I felt like the serenity prayer I had just written about yesterday was violated by my own actions. I, like Peter, had started to sink when I allowed distraction to remove my focus on Jesus.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, grant us the strength and discipline needed to rely and focus solely on You for our security, and protect us from allowing distractions to steal our peace and bring us into a stae of anxiety and fear. When we trust You as you deserve, we are able to experience true serenity. Help us to learn that lesson, and apply it to our lives every chance we get. Thank You for 2nd and 200th chances to get this right.
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