So Peter went over the side of the boat, and walked on water toward Jesus. But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted.
Matthew 14:29-30
I was reading Matthew 14 the other day. If you know the bible very well, you know that this is the chapter where Jesus is walking on water and Peter asks Jesus if he could walk on water to Him. If you know the story, you know that Peter looks away from Jesus and starts to sink and then panics.
This intrigues me. We see one of Jesus’ disciples, one of the people who were always with Jesus while He went and ministered yet he couldn’t keep his eyes on Jesus when the storm around him surged. That made me wonder, if that happened to one of Jesus’ disciples, how much easier is it for us to do the same.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve done it. I can’t tell you how many times things will be going great, then I look away for a mere second and then next thing I know, I’m drowning. I bet you have felt the same thing.
The second Peter looked away, he was crying out to Jesus. He knew who would rescue him. I hope you know who will rescue you when you are going under the water. I hope you know that Jesus is that person.
Jesus will always pull you out of the water when you look away from Him. He may ask you why you have so little faith, but He will still rescue you.
Peter had so much faith. He asked Jesus if he could walk on water to Him. That's serious faith. But in a split second, Peter got scared and looked away. I wonder how many of us do that. I wonder how many of us have serious faith when things are going well but the mere second things get bad, you look away and start drowning. Have you ever thought of that before. Have you ever wondered why that happens. Believe me I have.
Sometimes I go through deep, dark valleys where I can maintain my faith and have my eyes locked onto Jesus but then there’s times that I go through little things and I look away for a split second and start drowning.
Now the key thing is Peter cried out immediately to Jesus. He wasn't afraid of what Jesus would say. He wasn't worried about what the disciples would think. He didn't try to do it by himself. He cried out to Jesus because He knew Jesus would be the one to save him.
I’ve learned to not wonder where God is in those moments because I know He is right beside me. I sometimes ask “God where are you?” when I really can’t feel Him anymore and feel like I can’t do it. When I am at my lowest or darkest, the first thing I have learned to do is cry out to God. I have learned that I really can’t do life without Him. The first thing I do is admit that I can’t do it on my own and I feel like Peter is doing the same here.
Peter didn’t try to get out of the water by himself. He knew he couldn't do it on his own. He knew he needed Jesus to save him.
That makes me wonder. How many people feel like they are drowning but instead of calling out and saying “God I can’t do this on my own” they are trying to save themselves? I can tell you I’ve done this. Example, in 2016 I told myself that I would not engage in eating disorder behaviors. I never asked God for help. I thought I could do it on my own. I never even thought to include God. Wanna know where that landed me? Relapsing in the behaviors 4ish years later because I tried to do it on my own and not with God’s help.
Another example is when I try to battle my self harm urges on my own. Yes I can reach out to people and have them talk me down but that only gets so far. Yes, usually they can calm me down which is great but what happens when they stop talking?
One night a couple weeks ago, I really didn’t want to reach out to anyone about it. I was struggling a lot with the idea that texting someone to help in those moments made me an attention seeker or that I was trying to get them to say what I wanted to hear. (News flash, the people I text will only tell me the truth whether or not I want to hear it and I love that.) But I didn’t text anyone. Wanna know what I did? I laid in bed crying out to God. Just being honest and saying “God I can’t do this on my own. I need You. Please help me.” And after a couple of minutes I fell asleep and for once slept through the night. God gave me the peace I needed to know that I would be okay and to sleep well for a change.
Here’s the thing I’ve learned about God. He is going to allow you to fight battles and the battles might intensify in harshness. But God is still going to be there with you . He will fight alongside you. He will always be there for you. That night, I needed someone to tell me I was going to be alright and that I was going to get past it and God did that. He was that person that night.
I’m gonna be honest, sometimes I have a hard time going to God first. I so much want to go to my people first because I want someone who will talk back to me and I can physically see. But God does talk back to us, it may just be hard to see.
What do I mean by that? The chances of God audibly speaking to you is not super high but it's possible but He will probably put something in your path that is His way of speaking to you. It may be reading a book and it saying something that resonates. Or maybe it’s reading His word and He speaks to your heart through it. It could be a song that comes on or just a random text from a friend.
You can see God all around you. He’s in everything. He’s in the beauty of nature. He’s in different people. He’s in everything, it’s just a matter of if you see it.
We need to first be going to Jesus. He’s the only one who can save us. He’s the only one who makes the darkness tremble. He’s the one who silences all fear. He is our living hope. He is our savior.
In those moments, we need to strive to not look away from Him. We need to strive to keep our eyes on Him. We need to remember to go to Him first.
Our friends, leaders, family members, pets, acquaintances, and our mentors will not be able to save us. That’s the truth. At the end of the day, only one person can and did save us and that’s Jesus.
It’s easy when we are afraid to look away from Him but we need to keep our eyes on Him. Our eyes need to be locked onto Jesus. We need to keep looking at Him to keep us above water.
How do we do that?
That’s a good question. Here’s a few things that I strive to do.
Read my bible.
I try to read my bible daily. I try to make sure I am spending some time in God’s word so that if He is trying to tell me something through it, I will see it.
Pray.
I know this one seems basic but it's our one way to truly communicate with God. Praying opens up the door for us to talk to Him. You can’t build a relationship with someone without communicating and praying is the way we communicate with God.
Being honest with God.
I know this one goes with the one before but this is VERY important. Yes God knows everything. He knows what you are struggling with. He knows what you are doing great in. But He still wants to hear it from us. When we’re angry with Him, He wants to hear it. When we are upset that something didn’t go our way, He wants to hear that too. He’s our Father. He wants to hear what’s on our heart. He wants the truth. He doesn’t want a false you. He wants the real, messy, broken you.
Read books/ devotionals/ bible studies.
You should not use these as your main ways of growing close to God but they are tools to help. They can help give you more truths. But you also need to guard your heart with what you read because not everything is truth.
Godly friends.
I am putting this one in because there is something powerful about having people you can talk about God to and what you are learning and struggling with. Now, we need to be going to God first ultimately. We need to go to God first. God places people in our heart to help give us guidance, we should not be putting our hope and faith in them. They are human just like you are and will eventually say or do something that upsets you or turns you away from them. They are human. Your hope and faith should be in God.
I hope this helps!
Hold onto hope and stay strong!
Madison Rae <3
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