Look at Me. Not the Wind.

Peter was one of the strongest, most faithful disciples. When Peter first met Jesus along the edges of the sea, he was feeling professionally frustrated. Unable to catch any fish, Peter the fisherman soon witnessed his new friend Jesus turn the sea into pure prosperity as together they miraculously netted thousands of fish. Suddenly at the hand of Jesus, Peter's troubles ceased. Over the next few months, Peter would see Jesus perform miracle after miracle. The impossible became possible to Peter just by being in the presence of the Son of God.

Such was the case the day Jesus fed 5,000 people from just a small basket of bread and fish. Offering the baskets up to the Father, Jesus prayed and then Peter saw many baskets passed among the thousands. Not a single person went hungry that day. Soon after that miraculous event, Jesus asked his disciples to get in the boat and meet him on the other side of the water.

Nearly the entire night passed as the disciples were alone on the boat crossing the water. A storm began to whip the waves around. The wind was fierce and the people in the boat were undoubtedly worried. In the distance, they saw what they thought was a ghost, but it was no apparition. It was their Lord.

Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage!  It is I. Don't be afraid."

Lord if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water."

"Come," he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water

and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and,

beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!"

Riding in a boat during a wind storm can be quite scary. I have been out in a small boat when the winds were only around 10 mph with surrounding swells of 3-4 feet. Experiencing waves of that size while in a small boat is a frightening feeling. If Peter was walking on wind driven waves that night, the swells were probably more like 6-10 feet. And it was dark.

How striking that Peter had enough faith to step out of the boat in the middle of the sea - - in a storm no less - - to walk toward Jesus. However, the moment he took his eyes off Jesus and focused on the wind, he began to sink. And then he cried out begging for his life. Jesus had mercy on Peter and immediately grabbed him, saving his life. Then He spoke:

"You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?"

Why, after everything Peter had seen Jesus do those months before, did he doubt Jesus? When it was he that needed a miracle, why didn't Peter simply look at Jesus and trust that he could walk all the way to him without sinking?

And why, after everything God has done for us, do we doubt?  It is truly our natural tendency to look at the challenges around us instead of focusing completely on what the Lord is obviously capable of doing on our behalf. This is especially true when things are severely dire, like it was for Peter. When our lives are on the line, or the lives of those we love the most are, we tend to look at the wind. We rarely look fully - -  completely - - directly - - at God. And simply trust.

Just as Jesus said to Peter, God says to us today , "Look at Me... Not the Wind." To focus on the many potential obstacles instead of on the Lord's ability to handle all of it can cause the issue to seem insurmountable. And it really isn't. He has the power and will to grab us right out of the water and make the wind stop blowing. ~