What Are We Looking At?

But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried out, saying "Lord, save me!" (Matthew 14:30 NKJV)

How many of us today are faced with problems that are threatening to overtake us? How many of, because of those fears, are living in fear, are depressed? How many of us are in a state of hopelessness or destitution. Who among us feels like we're at wits end and have considered giving up? For those of us who suffer from any of these things, the question then becomes why? Why are we suffering from them? We find the answer to that in the account of Peter walking on the water.

Peter was bold, so bold that, of the twelve men in the boat, he was the only one with enough faith to utter the words, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water." Jesus did call him, and Peter did go out, but here's the problem: The instant things got rough Peter forgot his boldness; he forgot the faith which enabled him to step out of the boat in the first place. Heck, he forgot that he was walking on water, and became afraid. Why did he become afraid? He took his eyes off of Christ and began looking at the problem instead of the problem solver which is exactly what many of us are doing today.

We are taking our eyes off Christ and forgetting our own boldness, the boldness we once possessed when Christ called us our of the world's darkness, an invitation we accepted and stepped into his glorious light. We're forgetting the faith we have in Jesus as savior, as deliverer, as protector, as provider. Heck, we're forgetting that our leaving our old lives behind for the new one promised in Christ is as much a miracle effectuated by our Lord and Savior as Peter's walking on the water was.

We have taken our lives off of our Lord and locked in on all the things going on around us and, just like Peter, we have begun to sink. See, what most of us never realize is this, one second spent focusing on your problems instead of focusing on Christ is one second too long. In that second your problems get bigger, seem more daunting, and seem to have no end in sight. But thanks be to God that there is a way to fix this.

"And beginning to sink he cried out, saying 'Lord, save me.' Peter, very quickly realizing that the only way for him to survive was to place his eyes back on Christ; he did so with the words, "Lord save me" and immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him... Very quickly Peter realized two things. 1) He realized that his problems were not bigger or more powerful than his Lord. 2) He realized that the only way for him to survive was to place his eyes back on Christ and he did so with the words "Lord save me!" This is the same thing we must do. Do you have problems, ones that affect you mightily and feel like they are threatening to destroy you? Look to your Lord for help. Rediscover the boldness and faith that brought you to Jesus in the first place and cry out, "Lord save me!" See if things don't change.

Prayer for today: Precious Lord, we are easily distract and find it hard to keep our eyes on Jesus. Like Peter we walk in faith until the distractions of the world get out attention and we suddenly find ourselves in trouble. Give us the presence of mind to turn our eyes back to Jesus and trust him to rescue us. Help us to grow in faith each day. Amen.