So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!” And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.”
- John 14:29-33
This familiar story of Peter walking on water is often used to either show and inspire great faith and courage, after all, Peter did step out on the water in the first place, or how quickly doubt can cause us to sink and ruin everything. But this morning as I thought about this passage I realized a couple of things that didn't happen. First, when Peter became afraid he didn't say anything even remotely like, "Hang on Lord, I'll muster my faith again," or, "I believe, I believe, I believe." In other words, Peter didn't contemplate his faith level. He didn't get down and say he was sinking because of lack of faith and needed to increase his faith. The passage says that Peter was beginning to sink when he cried out to Jesus. Did you catch that? I don't think I ever really thought about it before, but Peter was beginning to sink.
I always thought of it like Peter sank. I know I always said started to sink, but somehow I still always pictured him chin deep in the waves, trying to tread water, and crying for salvation. But this morning that word beginning struck me. This morning I imagine Peter crying out for help before his knees got wet. He didn't go down and cry out. He cried out as he began to sink, Too often we wait until we hit the ground when we fall to cry out to God instead of at the moment we begin to lose balance.
Another thing that didn't happen is that Jesus didn't condemn Peter or ask him what happened to his faith before He helped him. He didn't say, "C'mon Peter, if you'll just believe you can rise back up and walk on the waves!" Yes, He did ask Peter why he doubted, which was really only a reassurance that Peter knew that he could trust Jesus, but He only did so when Peter was safe and sound and knew Jesus had him. Immediately. The first reaction Jesus had was to reach out and grab Peter, to catch him up and keep him safe. Sometimes we hesitate to call out to God for help when we're sinking because we feel afraid that we've let Him down, that He's disappointed in us, maybe so much so that He won't help us if we don't have enough faith. But Jesus reacted immediately with deliverance. The instruction and reminder that He could be and should be trusted came only after the crisis was averted. Jesus and Daddy share the same heart and love for us. God is not going to sit back and watch us finish falling, say, "See what happens when you lose faith? Don't you feel ashamed you doubted?" No. God's immediate reaction will always be to help us, to prevent the fall before anything else. He loves when we call out for help, realizing our need for Him, before we go down, when we begin to fall.
We don't need to fear a disappointed look from our Father. We don't have to fear we've angered Him or let Him down. He knew we'd lose our balance long before we ever felt the first hint that anything was wrong. Yes, He wants us to walk boldly in faith and trust in Him. But there are going to be times fear comes in and shakes us. When that happens, He doesn't want us to fall so that He can point out our failure. He wants us to immediately cry out to Him for help. His response is always to save before and above all else.
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