Have you ever called God’s bluff, and He didn’t back down? Maybe, you prayed a dangerous prayer. “Lord, have YOUR way in my life!” Maybe you placed a demand on Heaven or desperately asked God to bring you into your new season, but when God asks you to step out of your boat and walk toward Him as He stands on the sea, you become hesitant. We’ve all been there. I was there myself not too long ago. Praying and asking God to change my life and prepare me for what’s to come, when I hadn’t realized the boldness it would require. When you ask God to show you what’s next or ask Him to lead you in His way, sometimes we can get intimidated. That vision seems too big. That business seems too extra. Maybe you don’t know what God plans to do with the little you have right now. So, you tell God that if it’s really Him that’s calling you into what’s next, that He needs to call you into it, for real for real. Sometimes we’re so much like Peter in Matthew 14:22-33.
Jesus appears to Peter and the disciples on the water after spending some alone time with God. Now, you’re probably wondering why Jesus would’ve told the disciples to get a head start instead of waiting for Him along the shore, but I believe that there are two reasons for this. The first was that Jesus wanted to use this opportunity to show who He was as the Son of God, and the second was in order for the disciples to see how far they thought they could go without Jesus. I believe that there are times when God will place us somewhere and just step back to see where we end up as He goes ahead and works on the rest of the details of our lives, and when He comes back, our response to Him is evidence of our faith after going so far into the sea. When Jesus came back to them on the sea, they didn’t recognize him right away. That’s us sometimes; when we ask God to lead us and He tells us to go into the water, at some point the evidence around us can shake our faith and we forget who sent us into the seas. We find ourselves asking God to tell us to come toward Him as He stands in the midst of a storm.
You may have the boldness to say, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” (Mt. 14:28), but when God says, “Come”, will you step out of your boat? And if you do, will you let the winds blow distract you from who’s in front of you or will you keep your eyes fixed on Christ?
As you make your way through the sea God has placed you in, remember that even if it seems like God isn’t there and Jesus isn’t there to direct you, they’re preparing what’s on the other side, and once it’s ready, He’ll appear just in the nick of time!
If you’ve been in this boat for a while, floating through this journey of life, waiting to arrive at this new season you’re expecting from God, don’t get too comfortable in that boat. Because when it’s time to walk on water, you’ve gotta be ready to step out on faith and step towards Jesus.
