MATTHEW 14:22-31
“And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away. And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone. But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?”
We see a very important truth being revealed in this incident that happened to the apostle Peter when he began to walk on the water to go to Jesus. Peter had walked on the water for a certain distance when all of a sudden he was distracted by the winds that began to get boisterous, and in doing this he became afraid and got his eyes off Jesus and he began to sink in the water. As long as Peter kept his eyes on Jesus everything was fine and Peter kept right on walking on the water, but when he looked aside and saw the winds and the waves of the water getting higher and stronger he was afraid that he was going to be drowned and in thinking this he lost his faith and courage and began to sink. This incident reveals to us that we must not look at the trying circumstances that can easily come into our life and cause us to be distracted from following Christ. If we fear these certain circumstances this causes us to lose faith in Christ and yield to the fear of the consequences and thereby interrupt our walk with Christ. To continue doing this will in time destroy our faith and cause us to draw back from following Christ. Fear is the problem that we must conquer in order to continue our walk with Christ until we become more than a conqueror through Christ that loves us. This can only be done in what I John 2:4-5 tells us that says, “He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.” When Peter began to sink in the water, this spiritually reveals that we will begin to sink back into this world of sin if we don’t learn to hold fast our profession of faith without wavering instead of being tossed about with the cares of this life that can so easily distract and deceive us away from our walk with Christ.