A little faith

Walking on water with Jesus – Gospel of Matthew

There is so much that could be said on the topic of faith. Without it we cannot please God (Hebrews 11:6) and with it we can move mountains (Matthew 17:20). It is a word that is mentioned in the NIV bible translation 236 times (the word “believe” is mentioned 148 times). And more profoundly it is the very essence, along with God’s grace, that makes up His gift of salvation:

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” – Ephesians 2:8-9

By grace and through faith… what a profound statement. Yet I have spent the last 10 years of my Christian life not fully grasping the true meaning of the words grace and faith. This doesn’t mean that I wasn’t believing in God or that I was discarding His grace. It means, that I understood “faith” to be my mind’s conviction that God was real (synonymous with believing), and “grace” to be “receiving what I do not deserve”. These notions I held for the past 10 years may not be “wrong” as in contrary to God’s truth, rather they are like pieces of an incomplete puzzle. While I certainly don‘t dare to claim that I have a comprehensive picture now, I still would love to share a beautiful glimpse of the truth I found in His word concerning “faith” – another piece to the puzzle.[1]

 “The man who has struggled to purify himself and has had nothing, but repeated failures will experience real relief when he stops tinkering with his soul and looks away to the perfect One. While he looks at Christ the very things, he has so long been trying to do will be getting done within him. It will be God working in him to will and to do.” – The Pursuit of God (A. W. Tozer)

In his book “The Pursuit of God” A. W. Tozer expands on the nature of faith as he encourages us to fix our gaze on Jesus Christ. When I read this, multiple stories in God’s word, which display faith as an act of looking to Christ, sprang to mind.
The one I would like to share with you is the famous story of Peter’s walk on water.

The scene is set with Jesus’ disciples out on the lake at night, with waves buffeting their boat. Jesus had sent them ahead so that he could be alone in prayer back at the mountainside. Now instead of meeting them at the other side of the lake, Jesus makes an amazing entrance by walking out on the water towards them. The disciples, terrified of his appearance on the lake, struggled to believe that it was Jesus walking on water. And this is where a beautiful picture of faith unravels with Peter’s request:

“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.” – Matthew 14:28-29

How amazing this moment must have been for Peter! His feet hit the water, yet did not sink in – he found himself doing the impossible. Do we read of Peter hesitating or asking the others, if this was a good idea? No. He heard Jesus‘ command and went right out walking on water towards his Lord. I find that this passage already shows fundamental aspects of faith:

• Faith and knowing God: Peter stepped out of the boat because Jesus called him. He knew Jesus and trusted him. Faith is born out of our trust and knowledge of God and Christ Jesus. The writer of the book of Hebrews emphasizes this by declaring:
  “Looking away unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down on the right hand of the throne of God.” – Hebrews 12:2
• Faith and obedience: Peter did not hesitate to obey Jesus’ command. Our faith is displayed by our obedience, or, put another way, our obedience to God’s commands is evidence of our faith. It is faith that enables us to obey. We see this also with Abraham:
  “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.” – Hebrews 11:8
  The importance of our obedience, acting on faith, is further emphasised in the book of James:
  “But some will say, ‘You have faith; I have deeds.’ Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.” – James 2:18
• Faith comes from Christ: it’s Jesus’ call to Peter that opens the door to faith in action. We read about Jesus as “the author and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2). And that it is from Christ and through what He speaks that we receive faith – just as Peter did:
  “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” – Romans 10:17

We may conclude that faith, the way we see it in the story of Peter walking on water, is born out of Christ, through his words, and displayed in our obedience. Yet there is another aspect I would like to share with you, it is found in the latter part of the walk-on-water experience.

“But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?” – Matthew14:30-31

What just happened? One moment Peter was walking on water and the next he finds himself sinking and in need of rescue. Jesus challenges Peter: “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”.

When did his faith shrink? The moment he looked at his situation – “but when he saw the wind, he was afraid”.

Fear and doubt, they creep in when we shift our focus to the situation we find ourselves in. The wind and waves were there when Peter first stepped out onto the water, but his focus and gaze was on Christ. He didn’t step out of the boat trusting that he, Peter, could walk on water, no. He saw Jesus stand on the waves, and heard Jesus call him, and had faith in Him.

It comes back to what A. W. Tozer points out in his book. It is in the very act of looking to Christ, His ability, His power and His words, that faith finds it‘s source, and all things become possible. I have often found myself, like Peter, in a place where my initial faith faded when I began to look and consider the situation I was in. It is not enough to step out of the boat in faith. We need to keep our gaze on Christ, and trust that it is because He is able, that we will walk and not sink.

“For we live by faith, not by sight.” – 2 Corinthians 5:7

Maybe we need to start closing our eyes to the situations we are in and decide to believe the words spoken through Christ. For what we see – the waves and winds – they don’t determine if we can walk on water or not. Jesus shows us that when we look to Him, believe his words and obey – there is no storm that can speak louder than His truth.

May these thoughts inspire you to dig deeper into God’s word; find the truth of the situation you may find yourself in; redirect your gaze to Jesus Christ and all He is. All your doubts and fears, they diminish in the light of Him. May you grow in knowledge and insight of His truth, through His Holy Spirit.

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[1] «Grace» I will surely write about in another blog – as there is much to say about it as well.