When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying. “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.”

Peter said to Him, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” And He said, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”    Matthew 14:22-31 NASB

The one thing that I dearly love about Peter is that I can so easily identify with him. Peter truly loved the Lord, but at times he lost focus. Just prior to this incident, He had seen Jesus feed over five thousand people with only five small loaves and two fish, enough for one boy’s lunch. Then Peter and the other disciples see Jesus walking on the water. Now seeing these two things alone you would make a believer out of anyone, right?

But Peter challenges Jesus. He tells Jesus if it’s really Him to command Peter to also walk on water. Not a problem for Jesus, so He commands Peter to come to Him. Peter gets out of the boat and is walking on the water, but it says that he sees the wind and becomes afraid. It didn’t say that he felt the wind or was being blown by the wind, but that he saw the wind. Now if you step outside on a windy day, you feel the wind. On a cold, windy day it can feel as though it is cutting through you. Having spent a lot of time on the water, I can tell you that if you are in a boat and the winds are gusting and the water is rough, you can see the waves and feel the effects of the wind. But when we are safe inside of a building, we can look out and see the trees sway and know that it is windy. So, I guess you could say in that case, we see the wind. Now I don’t know, but I am guessing that when Peter stepped out of this boat, he was surrounded by an invisible cocoon that kept him safe from the wind and the waves. Jesus had formed this hedge of protection around him to allow him to walk on the water. But Peter looked outside of his protective enclosure and saw the wind. He became frightened.

Sound familiar? I can be going along really well in the protection that God provides, trusting in Him and bang! I get distracted. I see the wind and I allow my little mind to wander. The “What ifs” creep in. What if I fall into this dark sea and drown? What if some big ugly sea monster grabs me by the ankle and pulls me under? What if that wind blows me down and I can’t get back up and I drown and am eaten by the sea monster? Or what if I just focus on Jesus, walk to Him as commanded and we both walk safely to the boat and get in?

My friend, the wind blows all around us. We must choose to focus on Jesus. We must make a conscious choice to live in the protective shelter that He offers. We must choose to come when He calls us to Him. We must choose to step out of the boat and trust in Him.

Psalm 91 is often called the Psalm of protection. It begins by telling us that if we choose to live in God’s shelter that we will reside in His shadow where we can take refuge and be protected. In verse 13 it says that we will tread on and trample the lion and the cobra. If God gives us the ability to trample the lion and the cobra, then walking on water is a piece of cake, right?

There are so many lessons to be learned from this one scripture passage, but today I want you to understand this. Peter and the disciples were followers of Jesus. They had been chosen by Him to accompany Him during His ministry. Jesus had given Peter his name because it meant “rock”. He knew that Peter was solid, but He also knew that Peter would waiver at times. Peter defended Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane by cutting the ear of the soldier off (John 18:10), but then denied Jesus three times in the courtyard (John 18:25-27). Jesus had predicted this, He knew that Peter had his moments of little faith. But He also knew that Peter would be a soldier for Him. He knew that Peter would spread the gospel and lead others to Christ. Jesus did not focus on Peter’s weaknesses, but on Peter’s strengths.

Peter loved and followed Christ, but he had his moments of weakness and failure like we all do. This did not mean that he was unfit to serve or that He could not do what God had called Him to do. But it provides a powerful lesson to us. What we focus on is what will control us. If we focus on the wind we will get blown down. If we focus on God we will stand strong on top of the waves.

So, today I simply ask you to make a choice. What will you focus on? You can focus on Jesus and trust Him to take care of the wind and the waves or you can focus on the wind and waves and drown. I’ve done it both ways and I can assure you that focusing on Jesus is the best way to go!

Have a great day!