Walking On Water

In some ways the high point in the story for Peter comes in v29 it says, "Peter... walked on the water and came towards Jesus". Getting out of the boat was Peter's great gift to Jesus; the experience of walking on water was Jesus' great gift to Peter.

We all love to hear messages like this and messages about how powerful God is. Scripture is full of images that reassure us: God is described as a rock, a fortress, and a strong tower; he is a King and Warrior. But such information alone is not enough to create extreme discipleship within us, it is a starting point but not enough. We can receive much information designed to assure us that God is all powerful. But the information alone does not transform our hearts and lives. In the letter of James he says "faith without actions is dead" (James 2 v17). For the basics of faith is seen though our action and our obedience to Jesus words.

In the book of Joshua when it was time for the Israelites to cross the River Jordan, God promised to make a way for them and gave them clear instructions, but God asks them to take the first step: "Now the Jordan is in flood all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water's edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing..." (Joshua 3v15-16).

They heard God's instruction but for them to experience God's power, they had to take the first step. This not only involves a mental acknowledgement of God's power, but requires them to take a step of action based on the assumption that God is trustworthy as well. They had to get their feet wet first.

This thought leads us to two important questions, firstly what am I doing in my life at the moment that is a direct response to God's word to me? When Peter said v28 "Lord if it is you, tell me to come to you on the water." And Jesus reply is "Come". Peter at that stage could not say I was only testing, I didn't really mean it - for where would have been the faith. Secondly, what am I doing that I could not do apart from the power of God in my life? If we were to ask Peter that question, the answer would be very simple and straightforward. It was clear that the only way Peter would be able to stay afloat was if God took over.

How about us? Is there any challenge in our lives right now that is large enough that we have no hope of doing it apart from God's help? If not, consider the possibility that we are seriously under challenged. If we want to walk on the water, we have to be willing to get our feet wet first, we will have to take that first step of trusting God's call, to come.

God helps our faith grow by asking us to take that first step. When God called Moses to get out of his boat (Exodus chapter 3) - to confront Pharaoh and lead his people to the promised land - Moses said no! It was too much of a step for him.

So God gives him a smaller step: He said, "Throw down your staff." (Exodus 4v3-4). "Moses threw it to the ground and it became a snake and he ran from it". Then the LORD said to him, "Reach out your hand and take it by the tail". Not a bright idea..! "So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand".

Why did God give him this second chance when already more or less Moses had said no? Why did God not say, fine I will go and find someone else? Because God knew the potential within Moses for God himself had put it there, and later I want to talk about "honouring our raw material".

This so called second chance was an object lesson to teach Moses about the first-step principle. As he picked up the snake and it turned back into his staff he discovered God's word is trustworthy and that he is faithful. But let us not forget Moses had to take the first step. Often, at the key moment of saying yes, when we don't know all the implications, we set in motion an adventure of putting Jesus in the driving seat.