Yes, We Should

February 1

“Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a ghost! And they cried out for fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid. And Peter answered Him and said, Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water. 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?" Matthew 14: 25-31.

Have you ever walked on water? Me either. Yet in this passage of scripture, Jesus remonstrates Peter for his lack of faith in doing so. Why? Why would the One present at creation, the One “without whom nothing was made that was made,” John 1:3, the One who “knows our frame,” Psalm 103:14, because He made us as we are, tell Peter that he lacked faith because he could not do something he had not been designed to do?

For three reasons: 1. Peter asked Jesus to command him to walk to Him on the water, 2. Jesus said, “Come,” 3. The incident is an example to us.

Peter requested that the Lord allow him to walk to Him on the water. Peter asked for something extraordinary that required great faith to even contemplate. Most of Jesus’ followers wouldn’t have extended such a request to the Holy One…it would not have crossed their minds to ask for something so beyond human capability.

But when Peter evidenced the faith to request the impossible, Jesus complied; He assented to Peter’s outlandish request—and for a brief moment in time, until Peter’s faith collapsed under the burden of his concept of reality—a man did the impossible. It is entirely possible that had Peter’s faith not failed him, he might have walked all the way to the shore!

This is an amazing example to believers today because sooner or later all of us will call upon the Lord to do something extraordinary in our lives or in the lives of those for whom we pray. We will ask for some great thing. We will ask Jesus to supply the finances for a burdensome debt that we cannot pay with our own resources. We will ask the Lord to heal someone of a dreaded disease for which medicine has exhausted its resources and there is no cure. We will supplicate in the behalf of a nation’s redemption from the moral and spiritual abyss into which it’s plummeted.

And we have His Word that assures His willingness to meet every need, to answer every prayer: “God is able to supply all you need according to His riches in Glory by Christ Jesus,” Philippians 4:19. According to John 14:12, we shall, “…do greater works than I have done because I go to the Father.” II Chronicles 9:14 promises, “If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face, then will I hear from Heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land.”

In all these supplications that are on the lips of so many believers, Jesus has said to us as He spoke to Peter, “Come.” But we waver in our faith. We fall back into doubt. We see the formidable circumstances and we lack the holy boldness to persist in prayer until the work is done!

Should we not learn from Peter’s error and not repeat it? Should we not lay hold of the precious promises and claim them until He performs them? Yes, we should!