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We read in the gospel of Matthew of a miraculous event, a sign we could say, that Jesus, the son of man born of the Virgin Mary, was of a truth the son of God. There are many aspects of this event that teach us about faith and its enemy of doubt. By reading of these things, we should understand that we are all the same. These were the disciples, that our Lord later ordained to be His Ambassadors, but here they demonstrate that they were all regular men with the same doubts and fears that this weakness of flesh inherits. We, therefore, should recognise the enemies that we still have to overcome of doubt and of fear in this example.

The Lord came to them while a storm was occurring, and they were already distressed and troubled. They saw Him coming walking on the sea and they thought that He was a spirit, or a ghost and they cried out in fear which was a very human reaction to seeing something that they could not understand. As He always had to do whenever He performed something of a miraculous nature or whenever He showed something not of this world, the first aspect of the message always had to be, do not fear, be not afraid, be of good comfort. In this example our Lord said, “Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid”. Peter showed his faith that, if the Lord was able to walk on water and the Lord asked him, he would also have that power over the natural elements. Peter said, “Bid me come unto thee on the water”, and Jesus then said, “Come”.

We see in that lesson, that when our Lord calls us to fulfil something it does not matter whether we have the capacity and it does not matter whether it is beyond our natural understanding as to how that might occur. When our Lord calls to us and we answer that call then we are not to be afraid but to be of good cheer and He will provide those things that are required to fulfil that calling. The reverse lesson is also available to us. Had Peter just assumed that he would be able to walk towards the Lord without answering the call, then it may have been a very different story. So it is in our work for the Lord. We must never run before the Lord, but we must listen to that quiet still voice of the Holy Spirit within us and answer His call rather than instructing Him as to how we are going to fulfil our faith.

We see that, when faith and trust in the Lord abounded, the Apostle Peter was able to step onto the water and walk. We also see a very clear example in the next verse (v30), that when he took his sight off following the Lord, when he took his journey away from achieving the Lord’s goal and looked to the things that he could see, he saw the boisterous ways of the wind and he began to sink. Within our faith journey for us individually, if we start to shift our focus onto the things of this world or if we do not fulfil our Lord’s command to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, then we will begin to sink in the cares and the troubles of this world. This recording also tells us the answer for when those things occur. When we begin to doubt, when we begin to fear and when we begin to sink, the Apostle Peter’s example should also ring in our heart and our mind, for he cried out to the Lord, “Lord save me”. ‘Hosanna’.