Before he knew it, Peter found himself doing the unfathomable. Heeding Jesus’ call, he ventures out onto the sea by foot. But upon finding the storm about him fearsome, Peter begins to sink and in desperation calls upon Jesus to save Him from being swallowed by the depths of the sea. Though Jesus gladly buoys him, He calls him out for having little faith. What happened between the moment Peter steps out of the boat and the moment he sinks is pretty clear. He was simply afraid of the storm which fear led him to sink which sinking led to despair.
But for him to have so readily heeded Jesus’ invitation to come to Him on the water, Peter must have had some faith to begin with. What inspired him to ask Jesus to come out to Him on the water in the first place? Some childlike desire to be with Him perhaps? What must he have been thinking when he took the very first step? It’s almost certain the others watched the whole scene in complete dismay. While we may never know the heart of Peter, it clearly took a great deal of faith to not only to suggest the idea but to heed the call and actually follow through.
Christ clearly set the precedent demonstrating that walking on water was even possible with God’s power. By virtue of Christ’s invitation, Peter must also have trusted that Christ would extend His power to him to do likewise. Besides Jesus, no other soul but Peter had ever walked on water before or since. Is that not worthy of note?! So why did Christ accuse him of having little faith? Though Peter had enough faith to leave the questionable safety of the boat, he questioned his safety on the waters even with Christ near his side. What faith he had was lost by losing sight of Christ.
Like Peter, we too must hold fast to the faith we do have. As we set our sights on Christ, heed His invitation and come to Him even in treacherous territory, we must ever cleave to our trust in Him and never lose sight. As our eye remains fixed on Christ, we too may be able to not only witness but participate in the Lord’s marvels. Standing beside Him with unwavering faith, we can have full confidence that with Him and His almighty power we are ultimately safe.