Faith Tested on the Rough Seas
A number of years ago a friend and I were in his small boat on the Isle of Wight Bay at Ocean City, Maryland, when the boat’s engine sputtered and quit working just as a storm rolled across the waters. There we were, stranded on the water as the rain and wind began to make things quite interesting. Can I just say, a pretty terrifying moment, and it was a very comforting sight to see the Coast Guard coming to rescue us before we became fish bait.
In the Bible there is a story told in three of the four Gospels (the word gospel is the translation of the Greek noun euangelion which means “good news”) that is not unlike my story just told.
After a long and exciting day in which Jesus miraculously fed a very large crowd of people with five barley loaves and two small fish, He needed to get away to be alone to pray. He told to the disciples, who had just witnessed and participated in the mass feeding, to get into their boat and go to the other side of the lake, presumably to rest and pray as well. While crossing the lake they got caught in a bad storm, one that caused waves to crash onto their boat. In the darkness they saw what looked like a ghost walking on the water toward them. They were gripped with fear until this “ghost” spoke and told them that it was he, Jesus, who was coming toward them. In Matthew’s version of this story, Peter asks Jesus to confirm His identity and is then invited to get out of the boat and walk on the water toward Jesus.
Somehow, he musters up courage and steps out of the boat, takes a few steps on the water, then sees the wind and becomes afraid and begins to sink. Jesus reaches His hand to rescue Peter, questions him on his lack of faith, then they both get back into the boat. As soon as they did, the winds died down. Each of the stories gets a little divergent at this point – In Matthew, they “worshipped him;” in Mark, they were “completely amazed;” and John’s version, we will look at that below.
To read each of these stories; Matthew 14:22-36, Mark 6:45-56, and John 6:16-24.
I believe that there are so many nuggets in this story, but I want us to look at just a few. First, even when we are being obedient to Jesus, we encounter hardships. The disciples obeyed Jesus by crossing the lake and they still encountered a storm. Second, Peter did what is humanly impossible, walking on water, when he kept his eyes on Jesus. Once he looked away, he began to sink. And lastly, I want to look at how this story ends in John’s version. In John 6:20-21 we read these words, “But he said to them, ‘It is I; don’t be afraid.’ Then they were willing to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading.” Do you see that? When the disciples recognized Jesus’ voice and willingly surrendered to Him, their fear went away, and the boat reached its destination.
So, today, I hope the takeaway for you is… The disciples could have questioned Jesus as to why He allowed the storm in the first place or why He allowed Peter to sink, but instead they recognized that without the storm there would have been no walking on water, no faith to be tested, no faith to be trusted. A faith not tested is a faith not trusted!
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