Have you crossed over yet?
Matthew 14 tells us of the events surrounding Peters walk upon the water. This story has been told and retold countless times, with a variety of lessons learned through the scripture. But I would like to present to you the events immediately following this leap of faith.
Let’s start at the beginning. Jesus had sent the disciples ahead of Him to the next village. Of course, to get there, they had to ride in a boat across the sea. Jesus stayed behind to send the crowds home that He had just fed. Plus, He wanted to take a little bit of alone time to pray.
Later that evening, Jesus began walking on the sea to meet the disciples. Imagine the sight of a person on top of the water in the middle of the night walking toward you. Totally unexpected, right? They thought that He was a ghost.
Jesus then spoke to them, saying, ‘It is I.’ But Peter, being the most outspoken member of this rag-tag group of Christ followers, wasn’t convinced this was a ghost. Peter spoke up and said, ‘Lord if that’s you, call me to come to you.’ So, Jesus obliged and called him to come.
Well, Peter then makes the crazy decision to climb out of the boat and attempt to walk on the water. And what do you know? He did it. Peter was actually walking on top of the water just like it was solid ground.
But that didn’t last long because Peter became concerned about the wind and waves that were tossing all around him. He lost sight of the Master and began looking into the water. Since his focus was suddenly twisted, he started to sink.
We know that Jesus saved him from drowning but check out what He said when He pulled Peter up out of the water. He said, ‘Oh ye of little faith. Why did you doubt?’ In most messages and lessons gleaned from this story, we come to the part where we talk about Peters lack of faith. But Peter wasn’t alone.
You see, the rest of the disciples were there also and none of them even considered getting out of the boat. They chose to let Peter be the one to get out and try to do something so foolish as to walk on water. Whoever heard of such a thing?
When Jesus questioned Peters faith, He was also questioning the faith of the other disciples. Peter at least was bold enough in what faith he had to put forth the effort to try to get to Jesus. They just sat still and waited. No boldness. No proof of their faith in this unusual situation. Nothing.
So, once Jesus and Peter arrived safely in the boat, the wind and waves became totally calm. At that moment, the other 11 disciples began to worship Jesus and declare Him to be the Son of God. It wasn’t the water walk that convinced them of His supremacy. No, the telling factor for them was the calming of the waves. That sealed the deal.
They then finished the journey to the other side of the sea. The scripture tells us in Matthew 14:34 that, ‘Once they crossed over, they came to the land at Gennesaret.’ They had to cross over the sea to arrive at the next step in the journey to their destinies. You can’t make it to where God wants you to be if you’re not ready.
When they arrived on shore, people immediately recognized that it was Jesus and began bringing sick folks from all around town for Him to heal. They simply wanted to touch the tassel of His robe. Why the tassel? They had heard of the woman with the issue of blood who had touched the same tassel and was completely healed and made whole. These folks knew that there was power in that tassel and of course, everyone who touched it was made whole.
But what about the disciples? Their faith had to be proven on the sea in order for them to experience the Glory of God once they arrived at the shore. No, they weren’t sick, but Jesus knew what was waiting for them at Gennesaret and He wanted their faith built up before arriving there. In a crowd such as that, there is no room for doubt.
So, they had to cross over from unbelief to proven faith before encountering this miracle moment. They had to cross over the sea of doubt in order to arrive at the village of victory.
Now, back to my opening question. Have you crossed over? Have you built up your faith through the winds and waves of doubt so that you can witness and withstand the true power of God? Is your faith strong enough to cause you to get up in the middle of the storm and strike out walking on the water to touch Jesus?
Or are you content to sit back and watch somebody else step out into their miracle moment? Have you allowed the winds and waves of life to wear you down so that you don’t know what you believe? I want to encourage you to stand up in the face of every storm that dares to come your way and trust in Jesus to hold your hand as you walk right through it. Don’t miss your miracle moment because you were afraid to step out. Go ahead and cross on over the sea of doubt and come to rest at the village of victory.
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