‘Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”’ (Matthew 14:31 ESV).
In the fourth watch of the night, which was between 3 and 6 AM, the disciples labored to cross the Galilee against a strong headwind, when they were terrified to see a man walking on the water. Thinking it a ghost, they cried out in fear, but Jesus identified himself and told them not to be afraid. Hearing this, Peter asked the Lord to command him to come to him on the water. Jesus said, “Come.”
At Christ’s command, Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water towards Jesus, but as he saw the winds and the waves around him, he was afraid and began to sink. He cried out, “Lord, save me.” Jesus took his hand and rescued him asking, “Why did you doubt?”
This is the crisis of answering Christ’s call. First, he calls us out of the boat, out of that place we know and feel self-confident. Hearing his call, we move towards him. But soon we find ourselves completely out of our element. Our own strengths and resources fall short. Taking our eyes off of Jesus and seeing and hearing the challenges around us, we begin to sink. We begin to doubt Christ’s call.
This is the second crisis of answering Christ’s call. The difficulties of following him cause us to doubt. And doubting, we begin to sink and feel as though we might drown. Yet when we cry out, “Lord, save me.” He does. Now we have begun to learn the nature of obeying his call, namely, that we cannot do it in our own strength. We must learn to keep our eyes on Jesus and to completely rely on him for all things.
PRAYER: Dear Father, we believe, help us with our unbelief. Help us to doubt our doubts, instead of doubting You. We want to follow the calling of Your Son, Jesus. Strengthen us to get out out of the boat and walk by faith in Him. In Jesus’ name, amen.